- With Mayo Clinic oncologist
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
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Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
"The magic of the electronic village is transforming health information. The mouse and keyboard have extended the stethoscope to the 500 million people now online." - Dr. Edward Creagan
The power of the medium inspires Dr. Edward Creagan as he searches for ways to share Mayo Clinic's vast resources with the general public.
Dr. Creagan, a Newark, N.J., native, is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hospice medicine and palliative care. He has been with Mayo Clinic since 1973 and in 1999 was president of the staff of Mayo Clinic. Dr. Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, was honored in 1995 with the John and Roma Rouse Professor of Humanism in Medicine Award and in 1992 with the Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, Mayo's highest recognition. He has been recognized with the American Cancer Society Professorship of Clinical Oncology.
He describes his areas of special interest as "wellness as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual-financial model" and fitness, mind-body connection, aging and burnout.
Dr. Creagan has been an associate medical editor with Mayo Clinic's Web sites and has edited publications and CD-ROMs and reviewed articles.
"We the team of (the Web site) provide reliable, easy-to-understand health and wellness information so that each of us can have productive, meaningful lives," he says.
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Stress blog
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Nov. 1, 2008
Shifting the odds in your favor
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
"It all depends on your attitude." This wise advice was shared with me by a fascinating gentleman who was coming to Rochester for a routine cancer evaluation. Fortunately, his evaluations were encouraging and the cancer had not recurred. But, let me share with you the rest of the story.
It is my practice to inquire about the occupation of patients. How can we interact with the patient if we do not know their social background and the kind of work that they do? The gentleman described himself as a "corrections professional." I assumed that this was some type of law enforcement position, but his responsibilities provided a keen insight into the role of stress. Please read on.
He was an official in a "super max" facility in a distant state which focused on some of the more difficult and challenging inmates in that state's correctional environment. Our gentleman shared with me the constant sense of danger, the palpable feeling that an eruption could take place at anytime, and the sense of profound vulnerability since he was not armed.
He explained that he thought "almost everyone" who worked in that environment had stress-related illnesses such as high blood pressure, eating disorders as well as an overarching sense of anxiety. My question to him was, "How do you do this everyday?"
Here is what he told me. He emphasized the importance of an attitude of being professional, proactive, and anticipating danger but also to maintain a fundamental level of fitness. In other words, he did everything he possibly could to shift the odds in his favor to avoid a confrontation. He was psychologically and physically prepared to deal with the unexpected.
So, this is important for each of us. What can we do to be proactive, to be preemptive, and care for ourselves to shift the odds in our favor?
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