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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.
Latest entries
- Stress and illness
Nov. 20, 2009
- Reach out
Nov. 7, 2009
- Focus on the finish line
Oct. 30, 2009
- Set limits
Oct. 24, 2009
- Head in the game
Oct. 17, 2009
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Stress blog
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June 9, 2009
Blog: Respecting our limits
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Many of our friends have children who are graduating, and they are kind enough to invite us to celebrate with them. Commencement speakers often proffer advice, but sometimes words of wisdom come from an unexpected source.
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I recently sat next to a gentleman who reminded me of the importance of knowing our own limits. This person was a prominent television personality at a major Midwestern affiliate. He had been the anchor for an early morning news show and had to be in the studio at 4 a.m., which meant that he needed to rise at 3 a.m. each day. To get seven hours of sleep a night, he needed to go to bed by 8 p.m. He shared with me that he did not like that routine and thought he could have a social life like "normal people." Because he often participated in community activities, he routinely got only three or four hours of sleep a night.
You can predict what happened. His on-air performance deteriorated. The ratings — essential to advertisers — went downhill and he was dismissed from his position. All because he did not acknowledge his own limits.
During the professional basketball playoffs, we saw another situation where one team, the Los Angeles Lakers, was clearly fatigued after a tough schedule. They were playing the Denver Nuggets, a team that was well rested. Although the Lakers ultimately won the series, it was obvious that they were pushing the limits of their stamina and endurance.
We too need to remind ourselves that we only have so much energy in our battery. If we continue to drain it with demands and commitments, the battery goes dead. So, we need to respect our limits — physically and emotionally. We may have the best of intentions to do the right thing for friends and family, but if we exhaust ourselves everyone loses.
So, how do we recognize our limits and what can we do to keep ourselves charged? Please let me hear from you.
3 comments posted
June 14, 2009 5:49 p.m.
Dear Dr Creagan One of the problems with limits is that our careers/jobs place us in situations that are untenable over a long period of time. We are expected to do our jobs even when more is demanded from us than is realistic. Dr Atul Gwande recently wrote about the concept developed at the Mayo Clinic in which patient care comes first. According to his article a specialist can be called by another to consult about a patient. Perhaps I misread him, but he seems to describe a system that creates a day filled with interruptions for those being called to consult. For example, in this post, you have written about the interuptions in your day with telephone calls and e-mails and you have indicated the stress that this causes. Our days seem more fragmented than in the past by technology that allows for immediate access to us. Certain business writers have indicated that this is really not efficient though it may seem to be. We all need time to stop and think in our busy day. Unless we do this, we will be stressed and overloaded and not at our best.
- Barbara M
June 11, 2009 11:22 a.m.
sleep is the food that charges the batteries of our head just like "food" does for our body,prioritize your activities and cut down the ones that come down the list. try to relax to shake off the stresses,the method will vary from person to person...
- Baldev
June 10, 2009 10:05 a.m.
One thing I need to keep doing is to anticipate how much energy an activity will take and so what I can both before and after to build up and to recover. I find being with more than 4-5 people at a time quite taxing. Someone else gets energy from larger gatherings. Know your limits. and treat every day as a new day with the same number of pennies of energy to be spent.
- egrace
3 comments posted