“Professor pens presidential philosophy book (The Advance-Titan)” plus 1 more

Professor pens presidential philosophy book (The Advance-Titan)

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 10:54 PM PST

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Many universities and scholars have taken notice of UW-Oshkosh professor David Siemers book, "Presidents and Political Thought," on political ideologies.

Many authors of political science books address either the topic of political theory or that of political practice, Siemers decided to bring philosophy and action together to study what actually happens to a person's ideas on how one should act in a given situation, and what one actually will do when that opportunity arises.

"What…Siemers has done in this book is show how…their political theories do, in fact, shape their policies, including the way they react to unexpected situations," s James Read, a professor at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University, said.

Siemers begins the book by addressing the question of why the studies the presidency, as well as, the theories these presidents have held, and their actions in relation to those theories.

He then dedicates the six chapters of the book individually to six different presidents, whom he has spent several years researching.

The presidents Siemers chose are John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton.

Siemers said he used a simple criterion to select the presidents he studied.

"[I chose] people who interested me, but also…people who made a connection between political theory, and real, practical politics," Siemers said.

Siemers also touches on the politics of other presidents such as Lincoln, and Obama in the book.

Many records currently exist depicting the political philosophies of people such as Plato, John Locke, or John Stuart Mill.

Siemers did not want this book to be added to this collection; he wanted to be able to tie the thoughts of presidents together with the facts of what actually happened during the presidency.

However, several of these prominent philosophers did take a role in the book as thinkers that these presidents looked up to.

For instance, Wilson held the political thoughts of Edmund Burke to be very true and commonly used them in his practice.

What interests Siemers most, however, is the political theories presidents going into office may have had, their actions while in office and the way their actions and their arguments of politics coincide and where "slippages" have occurred over the years.

Siemers' approach has already begun to weave its way into the syllabi of several professors' classes.

University of Kansas professor and external reviewer of Siemers' book, Paul Schumaker, has decided to tie passages of Siemers' book into his required reading for one of his classes on American Political Thought for next year.

"His book is precisely the kind of book that will engage students," Schumaker said.

Current students enrolled in Siemers' class have already been given assignments to read specified passages from the book.

"What matters is; did I figure out the truth," Siemers said.

Siemers also said the point of writing a book of this kind is for the sake of its audience.

Siemers' goal is to translate knowledge to those who are interested in learning.

"UW-Oshkosh students should be very appreciative of having a first-rate scholar and teacher like Professor Siemers as an important educational resource at your university." Schumaker said.

"Presidents and Political Thought" came out near the end of December of 2009 The book was published by the University of Missouri Press.

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Blake Medical Center ER boasts new look, philosophy (Bradenton Herald)

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 09:04 PM PST

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In the back is a small play area for children.

The irony for White: Thanks to Blake's new emergency department philosophy, his patients will only see the new digs briefly on the way in and out. Only family members who accompany them will get the full effect.

The new philosophy — White called it "lean methodology" — should keep patients out of the waiting area by allowing them to receive a medical assessment from a doctor-and-nurse team almost as soon as they arrive.

"The question we're trying to answer is, 'What does a patient want when they come to a hospital?' They want to see a doctor," White said. "Ultimately, that's the goal. We've put a lot of effort into making sure we're addressing that for the kind of patients we have. They want to see a doctor; we going to make sure they see one as quickly as possible.

"This was designed for the sole purpose of maximizing the benefit of this process."

Construction on the redesigned waiting room was completed Jan. 18, but Blake has been using the lean methodology since July 7, White said.

Patients who enter the emergency department are greeted by the clinical staff member, who enters their name into a computer and immediately ushers them into one of 18 exam rooms.

Once the assessment is made by a doctor-and-nurse team, a patient will either move on to a treatment room in the case of a serious medical issue or into a sub-waiting room inside the department. The sub-waiting room is for patients awaiting tests or those who have less-immediate need for medical attention.

Previously, patients were stuck in a waiting area outside the department until a doctor was ready to see them.

"The treatment pathway is decided from the medical screening exam onward. We don't lose that time," White said.

The new process has allowed Blake to decrease its average length of stay in the emergency department by about 48 minutes — from 180 minutes to 132, White said. The average time a patient waits to see a doctor has gone from between 30 to 35 minutes to 15 to 20, he said.

The methodology and its resultant efficiency coincided with Blake's move to advertise its emergency room wait times. The hospital rented a billboard on Cortez Road, near 26th Street West, that updates every 30 minutes with the average wait time during the past four hours. The information also is on the hospital's Web site and is available by texting "ER" to the number 23000.

Stephanie Petta, Blake's director of marketing and community relations, said the hospital is happy to tout the new emergency department. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, the wait time was advertised as three minutes, which represents the time a patient would wait to see a doctor.

"They're doing so much great work back here and making things so efficient, it makes sense you want to let people know," Petta said. "You hope like heck that your scores are always good. Fortunately, I don't think we've had a bad time up there yet."

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Philosophy

Thursday, February 11, 2010