John Rhen Santillan

THE AQUINAS UNIVERSITYOF LEGAZPI COLLEGE OF NURSING BICOL’S FIRST

By Vicente B. Peralta, RN, MSN

The Aquinas university college of nursing was founded on June 20, 1967 as the Legazpi College - Immaculate Conception Hospital College of nursing, inc. this was established in line with the institution’s commitment to serve the educational and development needs of the community. Mrs. Ida L. Guerro was appointed as the dean of the college.

On March 8, 1968, the university status was conferred to Legazpi College by then education secretary onofre D. Corpuz. The name Aquinas university of Legazpi (AUL) was adopted in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican doctor of the Catholic Church. Rev. Fr. Ramon C. Salinas, O.P. became the first rector and president of AUL.

The Legazpi College of nursing, inc. then became the Aquinas University ICH College of nursing. It is the first college of nursing in the whole Bicol area.

The college started with 160 students for the five-year Bachelor of Science in nursing program. Of this number, only 25 were admitted to nursing proper (third year). Twenty-two successfully completed the program on April 7, 1972. These pioneers of 72 hurled a 100% passing mark in the nurse’s board examination in that same year. The succeeding four more years duplicated this exemplary performance by the pioneers.

In 1975, AUL acquired majority ownership of the Legazpi medical center, Inc. subsequently the center was renamed Aquinas university hospital. The AUL-ICH consortium ceased; thus, the AUL became the base hospital of the college.

In the same year (1975), four alumnae of the college passed the US state board examination for registered nurses. They were misses Acido, Amaranto, Aringo and Majadilla. They all belonged to class ’73.

The AUL college of nursing affiliated with various hospitals in Legazpi city, viz, the Albay provincial hospital, Estevez memorial hospital and tanchuling maternity and children’s hospital. These institutions served as teaching hospitals for the students’ clinical practice. The rural health units of daraga and Sto. Domingo of the province of Albay became the laboratories for the student’s community health nursing practice. The juniors are exposed to medical-surgical patients at the University of Sto. Tomas Hospital while the seniors practice nursing skills at the national mental hospital, San Lazaro hospital, and the national orthopedic hospital.

The manila summer affiliation enhances the clinical skills of the students in the areas of Medical surgical Nursing, Communicable Diseases Nursing, Orthopedic Nursing, and psychiatric Nursing. Moreover, the students are also exposed to the city life in manila necessary for taking the board examination and future professional practice.

Accreditation of the college was applied for with the Philippine accrediting association of schools, colleges, and universities (PAASCU) in June 1976 by then rector and President Fr. Ramon C. Salinas, O.P. Fr. Salinas was then a member of the PAASCU board. Accreditation, after a formal visit by the PAASCU team was acquired in 1979. PAASCU accreditation was re-acquired by the college after a PAASCU team visit in March 1997. The AUL College of nursing was the first college of nursing accredited in the Bicol area.

In 1998, the professional regulation commission (PRC) had given the college a continuing professional education (CPE) provider member. This means that all symposia, seminars, workshops and the like, geared towards professional advancement for nurses conducted by the college is credited for renewal of license by the PRC. A professional nurse needs to go to manila for this purpose of professional updates. A two day symposium held at the concourse. Convention center, Legazpi city, sponsored by the college and AUL nursing alumni during the silver jubilee was given 15 CPE units, while the alumni convention, 4 CPE units.

To achieve excellence in nursing education, the college made faculty development its foremost goal. Two faculty members, Messr. Leo G. Llana and Vicente B. Peralta completed the Master of Science in nursing major in primary health care program in St. Paul University, Tuguegarao, Cagayan. They were assisted as scholars by the fund for assistance to private education (FAPE) and Aquinas University. The dean and two faculty members attended the one week international convention for nurses held at Shangrila EDSA Plaza, March 18-21, 1998. The resource speakers for this convention came from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe.

Another faculty member, Mrs. Nida Y. Baldo, completed a one month course on thesis preparation at UST, manila. In summer are 1998 a faculty member was sent on mental health and psychiatric nursing. The mental health management institute of Ontario, Canada conducted this seminar-workshop for faculty members teaching psychiatric Nursing.

In the same year, dean rubino and Mrs. Shane S. Del Rosario coimpleted their Ph.D. at the University of Nueva Caceres, Naga City. They were also assisted, as scholars, by FAPE and Aquinas University.

Two faculty members, Mrs. Erlinda Baronda and Mrs. Nida Baldo completed their master of arts in Nursing at Aquinas University in 1999. With their completion of the MA program, all the faculty members of the college are holders of a master’s degree. Consequently, all faculty members are ranked assistance professors or associate professor and are all full time teachers of the college.

The BSN curriculum is tailored to meet the needs of the students to achieve the goal of excellence in the profession. The curriculum is competency-based and community-oriented. The college adopts the health resources development. The students work for the people in attaining barangays of Sto.Domingo. This is also in lime with the department of health’s vision of “health in the hands of the people by 2020.”

Also in 1998, the college implemented the common 2-year associate in health science education (AHSE) curriculum. This is an undergraduate program that prepared students for entry into different health courses.

Upon completion of the 2-year preparatory course, students are equipped to function as health educators. A certificate of completion is awarded after completing this two-year associate in health science education.

To prepare the faculty members to handle the different concepts in the new BSN curriculum, the college in cooperation with the Aquinas University of Legazpi center for training and continuing professional education (AUL-CTCPE) conducted a series of seminars-workshops, such as:

1. May 13-22, 2009.

Regional training workshop on teaching primary health care I and II. This training was conducted in cooperation with ADPCN, Inc. and HRDP network Philippines and CHED. Twenty-two teachers from various colleges of nursing in Bicol participated.

2. June 28-30, 2000.
Teachers training on anatomy and physiology. The resource person was a faculty from St. Paul University.

3. January 12-13, 2000.

Seminar-workshop on the nursing process. The speaker was a professor from the Chinese general hospital college of nursing, manila. All students of the college attended and faculty members acted as facilitors.

4. February 22-23, 2001.

The UST-college of nursing in cooperation with CHED, conducted a seminar-workshop on “The Teacher: A Leader and Facilitator of learning.” This was conducted in coordination with the college. There were 117 participants.

Researched by: john rhen santillan 2nd year BSN(2007)

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu