UST-CON students showcase their heritage in Pintig Tomasino 2010

By Diannesa Golosinda

In line with the Buwan ng Wika celebration, as well as the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Quadricentennial year festivities, the Student Organization Coordinating Council (SOCC) organized the Pintig Tomasino 2010 competition last August 31 at the Medicine Auditorium.

Pintig Tomasino 2010 featured the four historical time periods surpassed by the university and our country during the Pre-colonial, Spanish, American and the Japanese occupation.

“The main goal of this event is to show love and appreciation for our own language and culture,” Jeneleen Lansangan, SOCC Secretary said.

Models from different colleges walked down the runway and showed off the fashion styles during various time periods, with most of the collection crafted by some of the famous designers in the local scene. UST College of Nursing students Lea Yosalina (IV-10) and Ennison Ducanes (IV-3) were also put on the limelight.

The Nursing Dance Troupe also stunned the audience as they performed traditional routines during the transition of the Philippines from an era to another, mixed with the modern moves

Thomasian Writers Attend Annual Journalism Seminar

By: Hazel Vera Tan

Nursing Journal members attended the Annual Journalism Seminar sponsored by the UST Central Seminary Faculties of Ecclesiastical Studies last July 24, 2010.

The event has given the UST-CON students an opportunity to enhance not only their capabilities in the field of nursing but also their writing skills

During the first half of the seminar, Rev. Fr. Norberto M. Castillo, O.P. (Editor of Philippiniana Sacra), Mr. Francisco Sionil-Jose (National Artist for Literature), Prof. Joselito B. Zulueta (Publication Adviser of the Varsitarian) and Prof. Eros S. Atalia (UST Center for Creative Writing and Studies Junior Associate) were invited to talk about their experiences in the field of journalism and to impart their knowledge on the various ways of writing articles. The speakers also distributed several handouts to the Thomasian writers in the latter part of the event. After the talk, they were awarded plaques and certificates of appreciation for their active involvement in the project.

The second half of the seminar consisted of parallel workshops for news writing and editing, editorial and feature writing, literary writing and editing, basic lay-outing and photojournalism. The symposium, held at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center, was attended by aspiring writers hailing from different faculties, colleges and high school departments the University.

Technology Opens New Doors to Nurses

By Michelle Angelique O. Parreñas

Newly named Commission on Information Communications Technology (CICT) chief Ivan John Uy suggested in an article by Yahoo! Southeast Asia Editors last August 12 that unemployed nurses reengineer their skills to become IT (Information Technology) - enabled medical transcriptionists through a three to six-month training.

A medical transcriptionist’s primary job is to write down dictated materials into clear and understandable texts for the purpose of charting information on patients. She is in charge of transcribing medical reports, discharge summaries, operative reports, therapy or rehabilitation notes, chart notes and hospital and clinic reports through the use of modern software and equipments.

In the aforementioned article, Uy said, “The basic skills are there, you just need to retool them and make them more IT-enabled. The lack of job opportunities for nurses in the country and abroad is an opportunity for the Philippines to fill in the demand for medical transcriptionists in the business process outsourcing industry.”

Regarding this proposal, Dr. Christian S. Dicioco, a well-renowned professor of Nursing Informatics (NI) at the UST-CON said, “Being a medical transcriptionist is definitely an in demand job right now but it would be better (for nurses) to focus more on their profession like NI and Nursing Research.”

Dicioco specifically noted the presence of NI in the local scene, “Since NI is a new focus and is gradually being introduced here in the Philippines, it would be favorable to utilize something that we already have such as the product of our nursing research here in the Philippines—Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS).”

NI deals with delivery, documentation, administration and evaluation of patient care and prevention of diseases with the support of nursing by information systems. It requires a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree and two years of clinical practice in addition to 1000 – 2000 contact hours at automated Hospital Information Systems. It is a multidisciplinary scientific endeavor of analyzing, formalizing and modeling how nurses collect and manage data, process data into information and knowledge, make knowledge-based decisions and inferences for patient care and use this empirical and experiential knowledge in order to broaden the scope and enhance the quality of their professional practice.

“Our rural health units (RHU) are in great need of nurses today. Imagine that there are 41,000 barangays here in the Philippines,” Dicioco said. “If one or two nurses were assigned in each potential RHUs, the unemployment rate would decrease two-fold.”

According to Dicioco’s book, Nursing Informatics here in the Philippines – First Edition, the CHITS used by the RHUs is a free open source software electronic health record system for local government health centers in the Philippines. It is an extensible, modular, open source information system for rural health units with the purpose of training them on electronic health records at minimal costs.

“It would be better for them to stay here in the Philippines, imbibe nursing as their job and help them gain basic experience in utilizing our technological advancement—both of which would be of mutual benefit for themselves and for our country,” Dicioco concluded.

Seniors Break New Ground with Health Informatics Seminar

By Charlene L. Tabora

With the theme, Putting Health in the Hands of the People, the seniors had their first seminar last August 11, 2010 at the Medicine Auditorium.

The distinguished guests were from the National Telehealth Center (NTC), led by Dr. Alvin B. Marcelo (NTC Director). Amongst the speakers for the event were Dr. Paul Nimrod B. Firaza (Project Manager, Electronic Tuberculosis Diagnostic Committee), Dr. Alex I. Gavino (Coordinator for Telehealth Services), Mr. Randy Joseph G. Fernandez (Consultant, Electronic Health Records; Developer, Triage System), Mr. Wayne Dell L. Manuel (Consultant, Public Health Informatics and Geographic Information System for Health), Mr. Arturo M. Ongkeko Jr., RN (Telehealth Nurse, Coordinator for Knowledge Management), Mr. Noel A. Bañez, RN (Coordinator for Primary Health Care Informatics, and Community Information Tracking System or CHITS), Mr. Jonathan D. Galingan, MD (OpenMRS Trainer and Implementer) and UST-CON alumnus Mr. Isidor F. Cardenas, RN (National Capital Region Project Coordinator, Telehealth Nurse).

The talks focused on the latest trends in Telehealth and Health Informatics which included an online charting system, information tracking system and other programs developed to facilitate nursing tasks in areas such as Community Health and Hospital Nursing.

“The technology presented will be very helpful to us as future nurses regardless of what branch of Nursing we may choose to pursue in the future,” Kevin Mikhael B. Merquita (IV-7), the chairman of the organizing committee said.

The seminar was the first one to be organized by the seniors for the academic year. Level IV class presidents, together with their Related Learning Experience (RLE) groupmates and the Nursing Leadership and Management team, collaborated in organizing and conducting the event.

“Despite concerns which arouse before everything was finalized, we were still able to push through and provide a seminar about Telehealth that would open a new branch of Nursing to students who are also skilled in computers,” said Lorraine Leyden O. Sy (IV-9), co-chairman of the organizing committee.

Coordinator for Nursing Management, Mrs. Eden I. Beltran, R.N., M.A.N., concluded, “It was indeed a very educational seminar since they did it as a group. Akala nga ng mga speakers hindi mga estudyante ang bibigyan nila ng seminar. Naka-civilian at naka-corporate attire kasi kayo.” She adds, “[Telehealth Nursing] is a good option to consider, [now that] we have utilized our referent power.”

Nursing Chorale Sang their Hearts Out

By Michelle Angelique Parreñas

The UST-Nursing Chorale (UST-NC) kicked off their series of performances entitled Nursing Choral Monthly Special with a rendition of two Original Pilipino Music classics at the Medicine lobby last August 24.

With the guidance of their adviser, Ms. Estelle Rose M. Lerma, RN, MAN and conductress Ms. Victoria Ro Katigbak, the 24 students who participated in the said production performed the OPM songs in line with the Buwan ng Wika celebration. The UST-NC version of Gary Valenciano’s Sana Maulit Muli and the duet-rendition of Ogie Alcasid’s Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang? by Jacob Solis (II-9) and Eleanor Tan (IV-9) lingered on the viewer’s heads.

“Our plan to have regular mini concerts every month was carefully conceptualized and was deliberated as our kick-off project for this year,” Charlene Tabora (IV-9), UST-NC president said. “It is primarily a step-by-step process to revive the spirit of this organization and to present to the nursing students as well as to the faculty & staff that the chorale really does exist.”

In spite of the weather condition and the conflicts with their schedules, the UST-NC was able to manage their time effectively as they started their preparation during the last week of July along with a week-long practice before the actual event.

Unlike its latency for the past couple of years, the UST-NC, with an upsurge of 50 members are now ready to take it to the next level. One of their major projects for this year would be joining the annual inter-collegiate competition Himig Tomasino headed by the Student Organization Coordinating Council (SOCC).

“With the help of the monthly presentations we would be able to showcase the talents of the members and gather enough supporters for the upcoming competition on February. At the same time, we would be able to provide an expense-free entertainment for the students and the professors. The presentation would be of mutual benefit for the Nursing Chorale and the students,” Tabora said.

In addition to the aforementioned projects, the UST-NC would also have the Nursing Chorale Music Fest in November during the Nursing Week celebration.

“We would definitely take one step closer to what we aimed for. We hope the college will continue to support us and be where the music is, for the Nursing Chorale will definitely be bigger and better,” Tabora concluded.

UST-CON Settles for 3rd Place on Licensure Examination

By Ana Katrina Pagkalinawan

The University of Santo Tomas College of Nursing (UST-CON) settled for a third-place finish in the 2010 Philippine Nursing Licensure Examination (PNLE) conducted last July 3 and 4.

The UST-CON has now produced 451 newly registered nurses, 14 of which have bagged the top spots on the roster. Allyce Joana De Leon and Anna Vanessa Gan were the highest rankers from the college, both placing third over-all. With this, the UST-CON has slipped to third among the top performing schools (with 100 and more examinees) with a 99.34% passing rate as compared to last year’s second-place finish with a 99% passing rate. Chinese General Hospital College of Nursing and West Visayas State University got the first and second place respectively.

The following are the respective board topnotchers in the 2010 PNLE from UST-CON:

3rd place (86.00%)	Allyce Joana Toledo De Leon Anna Vanessa Ang Gan
5th place (85.60%)	Weena Marie Bordeos Lim
7th place (85.20%)	Jan Christian Gomez Feliciano
8th place (85.00%)	Kea Tena Capio Ana Francesca Caballero Centeno Rouella Christina Martin Fajardo Renan James Sace Lim Laurence Lester Gamboa Tan
9th place (84.80%)	Elaine Katrina Sigalat Cala Julie Ann Del Rosario Clarin
10th place (84.60%)	Edwin Suarez Del Rosario II Eunice Pablico Empeño Micca Flores Lagleva

Thomasian Nurses Celebrate Nature Advocacy

By Hazel Vera Tan

The College of Nursing, headed by the Nursing Central Board of Students (NCBS), celebrated nature with Earth Wake 2: The Nursing Grand Greenovation last August 13.

The nature event kicked off with a race advocating for nature called ENVI-RUN-MENT where a number of nursing students finished a ten-lap race at the Benavides Garden. The over-all winner for the male division was Paul Letargo (II-6) with runners-up Arthur Lo (I-8) and Kyle Fontanilla (III-4). For the female division, winners were first-placer Leslie Chan (IV-3) with Bianca Cervania (IV-3) and Stephanie Locsin (II-6) rounding up the list. This was then followed by the opening of different booths which showcased various activities concerning the environment such as the UST Nursing Boothanical Garden, UST Up for Nature, UNITE interactive exhibits, Landscapes, Indelible Green and the Green Screen.

Afterwards, selected students of the college participated in a Zen-dish making competition entitled Greenvent. Mary Grace Marteja and Ann Jellyn Manalastas (IV-6) won the top prize for the event. Other winners were Zenel Yap and Angela Tominez (II-10) as well as Christine Manalo and Ma. Theresa Marcelo of (IV-6).

Reigning Ms. Earth-Air 2009 and Ms. Philippines Earth 2009 Sandra Seifert graced the environmental colloquium held at the Medicine Auditorium of St. Martin de Porres Building. Together with her was CON professor, Ma. Sanita Quilatan who is a member of various environmental groups like Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and For the Love of Mother Earth, Inc. The distinguished speakers shared their different experiences in helping Mother Earth. After the event, a musical booth named E-tunes was then set-up in the Dean’s Garden together with a luncheon.

In the afternoon, selected students representing their batches showcased their talents in the Glee Turns Green competition. The seniors emerged as the over-all champion with a score of 96% and the sophomores taking the runner-up place with a score of 81%. This was then followed by the Nursing Nightingale singing competition with Katherine Ordoñez emerging as the champion. Runners-up for the competition were Jose Amadeo Imperial and Joanna Cordova placing second and third, respectively.

The finale of the nature celebration was the pageant, Mr. and Ms. Nature Ambassador where Miguel Camacho (IV-2) and Cristine Lim (IV-6) emerged as the winners. Lester Perez (II-8) and Ariane Empaynado (IV-4) emerged as runners-up for the boys, respectively while Chloe Kuizon (III-5) and Izelyn Tan (III-10) emerged as the runners-up for the girls.

Other special award winners were Ivana Leachon (I-11) and Mark Deneb Armena (IV-1) for the Best in Theme Wear; Cristine Lim (IV-6) and Ariane Empaynado (IV-4) for Best Enviromercial; Gabriel Ramos of (II-8) and Patricia Camille Badion (I-2) for Mr. and Ms. Photogenic; and Jayme Jalandoni (IV-5) and Lester Perez (II-8) for Best Casual Wear.