About the slogan

“What I teach today must explain yesterday or be used tomorrow”

"I know that is what they told you, but let me tell you what we really do." Comforting words when I first began working in the ambulance because now I would know what to do in real time, in real life. As my experience grew I begin to learn a wide spectrum of practical things that people could not put into words clearly or street knowledge from people who did not have the education or opportunity to write it down. But this phrase also came from people who made shortcuts, acted on ignorance, or worked in self-interest.

When I began teaching in the PICU I wanted to help students, residents, respiratory care practitioners (RCP), and nurses by teaching them what we really do. I wanted teaching in a way that would overcome the "I know what they told you…" comments from the wrong people.

I also came to recognize that some of my students did not want to be there, did not want to learn, and did not believe this information would be of any use to them. This is in a unit where one or two children died each week. I basically had 10 minutes to catch their attention, teach it to them, and show its usefulness. (Sometimes I stood under the television set in the patient's room while lecturing. When I saw too many eyes looking above me I would end the lecture and move on.)

Jim Holbrook, my education guru or go-to-guy, was discussing Bloom’s Domains of Knowledge with me and we focused on the Affective Domain. This, he told me, is the knowledge of "How this will help me." I decided to focus here.

This seemed limiting at first but I found that people would fill in the space between my how-this-will-help bits of knowledge. Fairly quickly, they began telling me how it worked and I used this feedback to grow my lectures. This feedback comes the same day of my lecture, next day, and even 20-25 years later.

This also helped me avoid the problem of "buy-in." When I introduced a new concept managers would tell me I would have to obtain buy-in from the staff. I asked them, "Why do I need buy-in to provide good care?" Instead, I use the Affective Domain of Knowledge to teach what will help.

"What I teach today must explain yesterday or be used tomorrow," became my teaching philosophy. Some have called it my 72-hour rule. I build on recent events or experiences the students have had, finding the greatest opportunity in everyday life such as hobbies, cooking, car maintenance and driving, normal human behavior, and dating. I wouldß prepare them for events they are likely to encounter but from the point of view of a novice facing an uncertain situation without support. These are the practical problems that experts gloss over because they seem too simple, yet in the confusion of a new event these simple problems block all further action.