Tenet 1 Filet Mignon

Hi there! I’m Nichole Weaver, Curriculum Director at NRSNG. I’m excited to share with you about the 4 Core Tenets of the Core Content Mastery Method. In this video we’ll talk about the first Core Tenet – Filet Mignon.

Does this sound familiar to any of you? The student asks “What do we need to know for the test?” and the teacher says “Everything.” I want you to examine your gut response to this – are you someone who used to be that student and got SO frustrated when teachers said this? Or, are you a teacher thinking “Students always ask this, they just want us to hand them details, they don’t want to do the work”. If your gut response was closer to the second – I encourage you to go back and review the videos on our purpose and mission and goals. The truth is, teachers say this all the time. Honestly, sometimes they truly believe this – they’ll say “the NCLEX doesn’t pick and choose”. BUT – in the case of nursing – the NCSBN, which is the National Council of State Boards of Nursing – they’re the ones that write the Nursing Licensure Exam – actually will survey new nurses and ask them what the most important and most common things are that they saw in their first year. So even THEY say it’s not everything. But, for many teachers it’s because they themselves don’t know how to pick out what’s most important. So we’re going to teach you how to do that and why it’s so important. Giving students everything is SO overwhelming….

Think about what happens when you walk into a buffet. My personal demon is a chinese buffet. Seriously. What happens? You walk in and immediately think – holy moly where do I even start?? You start walking around and what are you drawn to? I mean – personally? I’m drawn RIGHT HERE – the fried bread. Y’all it’s my personal demon! BUT – is that healthy? Is there ANY nutritional value AT ALL? NO! We get fried bread, egg rolls, fried shrimp, crab rangoons (also fried), and maybe some egg drop soup – which is just chicken broth and egg whites…. Where’s the value in that? Where’s the nutrition? We stuff ourselves to the brim with this unhealthy food. We get to the end and think – what did I even get out of this that was worth anything?

But – now imagine that you went to a steakhouse. You order a filet mignon – medium rare if you’re like me. You get a stunning piece of steak, maybe some vegetables and potatoes. It’s delicious, incredibly juicy, and the vegetables are cooked beautifully. When you are done – not only are you incredibly satisfied, you’re full, you enjoyed every second of it. AND – you have room for dessert! But also – you’re going to feel like you got your money’s worth – like you gave your body something valuable. You’re going to remember this place and this meal. You’re going to tell your friends, right? We do the same thing when we teach students – we give them the most bang for their buck, the most important and most valuable pieces of information. Not only are they more likely to remember it, but they leave feeling like they got so much value out of their time and money.

So our goal is NOT to teach everything in nursing and medicine. Not only is it just not practical and not possible, but there is so much information out there that is NOT important and NOT valuable. The truth is that you are SUPER smart. You have a wealth of knowledge and experience. For some, that makes it more difficult, because you want to include everything you know. But what we want you to do is take that knowledge and experience and USE IT to identify the most important and most valuable information. What have you seen dozens of times? What can you apply to nearly every patient nearly every time? Or – is there a drug that you’ve literally only given once in 10 years?

I will tell you, when I first started creating content with this pedagogy – I was working on a lesson that I was fascinated by – Heart Failure. I LOVE Heart Failure. After I created the lesson, it felt like it was too much, but I was really struggling to pick out the most important information. I had to take what I had created and literally cut it in HALF. So when you’ve decided on all of the information you think you should include – cut. it. down. When we talk about the practical application, we’ll give you some practical ways to do this.

Listen – things like the Davis Drug Guide exist for a reason. They are absolutely valuable resources. However – we are NOT the Davis Drug Guide. The reason they exist is NOT the same reason we exist. This is the listing for Digoxin from NRSNG and the same listing in the Davis Drug Guide. It’s okay – people who put out resources like the Davis Drug Guide are not the enemy. But, we want to make sure we stay focused on the Filet Mignon – the most important and most valuable information. This is the foundation of our pedagogy, so it’s critical that you get this point!

So let’s recap – focusing on the Filet Mignon means we focus on the most important, most valuable information – only the key topics and key concepts. Use your knowledge and your experience to pull out the most important information! Cut out the fluff – when you think you’ve gathered all the information – cut it down even further! Remember, we are not them – resources like the Davis Drug Guide exist for a reason, but it’s not the same as ours, and that’s okay!

Make sure you’ve internalized this Core Tenet because it’s the foundation of our pedagogy! Keep working through these videos to understand the rest of the Core Content Mastery Method. Now, go out and be your best self today. And, as always – Happy Nursing!