A Look Back

History of Nursing in the Philippines

By: Jose Macalino Esteban Jr., R.N.

I. Early Beliefs, Practices and Care of the Sick Early Filipinos subscribed to superstitious belief and practices in relation to health and sickness. They believe the diseases, their causes and treatment were associated with mysticism and superstitions. People thought that the cause of disease was caused by another person (an enemy of witch) or evil spirits. These early beliefs contributed to the notion that persons suffering from diseases without any identified cause were believed bewitched by mangkukulam and difficult childbirth was attributed to nonos. As practise to rid the person suffering, people resorted to their belief in special Gods of healing like the priest-physician, word-doctors, herbolarios/herb doctors and the like because they know that evil spirits could be driven away by persons with powers to expel demons and deliver them from harm.

II. The Early Hospitals It was in the Spanish regime that the religious orders exerted efforts to care for the sick by building hospitals in different parts of the Philippines. Some of those prominent hospitals were Hospital Real de Manila, San Juan de Dios Hospital, San Lazaro Hospital, Hospital de Aguas Santas, and Hospital de Indios. With the construction of these hospitals more and more sick people were given the proper care and treatment and led to the knowledge regarding sickness and health.

III. Paving the Way to Nursing There were well-known personages involved in the beginning and evolution of nursing during the Philippine Revolution. The likes of Josephine Bracken, wife of Jose Rizal who installed a field hospital in an estate in Tejeros that provided nursing care to the wounded night and day. Rose Sevilla de Alvaro on the other hand converted their house into quarters for Filipino soldiers during the Phil-American War in 1899. The wife of Emlio Aginaldo,

Hilaria de Aguinaldo organized the Filipino Red Cross. There was also Melchora Aquino also known as Tandang Sora who nursed the wounded Filipino soldiers, gave them shelter and food. Captain Salomen who is a revolutionary leader in Nueva Ecija provided nursing care to the wounded when not in combat. Agueda Kahabagan a revolutionary leader in Laguna also provided nursing services to her troops. Lastly, the one they call Ina ng Biak na Bato, Trinidad Tecson who stayed in the hospital at Biac na Bato to care for the wounded soldiers. IV. Pioneering Nursing Schools The oldest university in Asia the University of Santo Tomas was the home of the first College of Nursing in the Philippines, which was established in 1877. At the turn of the century in the 1900, marked the establishment of St. Pauls Hospital School of Nursing in Intramuros Manila. In the Visayas, Iloilo Mission Hospital Training School of Nursing opened in 1906 with no standard requirements for admission of applicants except their willingness to work. This nursing school was also given the distinction of graduating the 1st trained nurses in the Philippines in 1909. In 1907 St. Lukes Hospital School of Nursing opened after four years as a dispensary clinic. Also opening in the same year was Mary Johnston Hospital School of Nursing. The government owned Philippines General Hospital School of Nursing began in 1910. The first college that offered a 4-year BSN course was the Manila Central University College of Nursing in 1947 after just 1 year when the first board exam was held outside of Manila. It was held in the Iloilo Mission Hospital thru the request of Ms. Loreto Tupas, principal of the school in April of 1946. It was only in June 1948 that the University of the Philippines College of Nursing was established followed by Far Eastern University Institute of Nursing in 1955 and the University of the East in October of 1958. V. Pioneering Nurses In 1909, Felipa de la Pea of Panit-an, Capiz; Nicasia Cada of Oton, Iloilo, Dorotea Caldito of Leon, Iloilo were named as graduate nurses from the Union Mission Hospital Training School for Nurses in the Philippines. Ten years after the first graduate nurses, the 1st Nurses Law (Act#2808) was enacted in 1919 regulating the practice of the nursing profession in the Philippine Islands. It also provided the holding of exam for the practice of nursing on the 2nd Monday of June and December of each year. And in 1920 the first board examination for nurses was conducted by the Board of Examiners, where 93 candidates took the exam, and 68 of them passed,

with the highest rating of 93.5% it was Anna Dahlgren who proved to be the first nursing board topnotcher. The Nursing Board Exam was composed of a theoretical and a practical exam. The theoretical exam was held at the UP Amphitheater of the College of Medicine and Surgery while the practical exam at the PGH Library. The National Organization Of Filipino Nurses, which was called Filipino Nurses Association was established in 1921 and is now known as the Philippine Nurses Association. It was founded by Anastacia Giron-Tupas and the first President of the organization was Rosario Delgado. With the aspiration to uplift the nursing profession Republic Act 877, known as the Nursing Practice Law was approved in 1953.