Who's Excited for Sembreak?

The issue regarding the shift of academic calendar back to the original one had stirred unpopular reactions from the students of the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (USTFMS). For sure it would. Semestral break has been the only thing that some students look forward to, like a little treat after weeks of mayhem. And now, they’re about to take it.

For weeks, I refused to comment on the issue since I have not heard all the angles of the story. I tried to reserve my comments until the Medicine Student Council (MSC) or the USTFMS administration releases an official statement. But alas! Until now, I haven’t heard of a formal explanation that would allow me to comment using thorough information. The MSC, which had the primary responsibility of informing the students, have devolved the functions to the class officers. I have talked to an officer of the MSC and he said that this was done so that the class officers can address the queries/comments instantaneously. While he raised a valid point, I do believe that the MSC should have still released an official statement to (1) keep the students informed, (2) eliminate variability in the information disseminated, and (3) encourage active participation of the students in the discussion. I would appreciate it if the MSC informed the students of the steps that are being undertaken to address the issue and the progress of the “student consultation”. As of this moment, an MSC officer informed me that a “resolution” was already submitted to the Office of the Dean to follow the original schedule.

 I also do not understand why some students encourage others not to comment on the issue for the reason that its implementation still not confirmed. But when will be the right time for students to react on the issue? When everything is final and executory? When the students have no chance of their opinions being heard? There is a clear difference between spreading unverified rumors and spreading a spark of awareness on the issue, and on this case, the issue is already being discussed and the only thing missing is the final decision. People are yearning for an explanation so that they could understand the issue. Suppressing students’ opinion on social media hinders awareness and possible collective action from students.

From what I have been hearing, the academic calendar is being reverted so that the junior interns can still apply for senior internship slots in hospitals of which application period does not coincide well with UST’s current academic school year. This is an understandable point but I say this issue could have been a preventable one. This was a lack of foresight from the administration. An academic calendar was released at the start of the academic year but why is the issue only being discussed now? If the admin already saw that there will be issues with the academic calendar shift, they should have not followed it in the first place.

The issue apparently raises some issues to students since a number of students have already booked local and international flights after the last day of classes. Students will either resort to rescheduling flights (would be very costly) or cancel the whole trip altogether. There had been some stories that the administration is considering a “No quiz policy” solution to give way for those with flights. But this is far from a solution! Neither would it be pro-student. The student will still be the one to miss classroom activities and later on suffer from quizzes once they get back because of those missed lectures. For sure, the quality education that they are due will be compromised. Talo parin ang estudyante. 

Another issue, which may not be a concern of the majority, would be the enrollment itself. Considering that the students have just paid matriculation for the finals, is it compassionate for parents to enroll their child for the second semester and shell out another hundred thousand pesos at this time of the year? I have heard that there is a compromise that even though classes will start by November 24, enrollment would still follow the same schedule which is on December 4. However, this still shortens the time for students to enroll since they have to be enrolled by December 4 since classes are already ongoing. I hope they extend the enrollment period until the supposed 1st day of classes, which is on January 5.

I pray that the UST Medicine students act collectively so that our opinion may be considered, for MSC to continue to live up to the title student representatives who would lobby the rights of the students, and for the administration to work out a solution that would benefit all.

Risk Population Stigma

Health professionals have clearly shown the advancement in the medical sciences by listing down numerous risk and predisposing factors for almost every disease and illness. With these laid down, we see the demarcation of the “susceptible ” from the “least likely” to be inflicted with specific conditions. Because of this, an equal amount of attention had already been given in manipulating these risk factors to reduce the occurrence of diseases.

But how can we describe the risk population if the risk factors which are listed are vague and unspecific?

I’m talking about the risk factors mentioned that are quite misleading. A concrete example  of such would be the HIV infection where several sources have clearly stated that being a “homosexual/bisexual” predisposes you to acquiring the infection. I think the labeling of sexual preference has a shaky foundation. For one, being a homosexual does not give you genetic predisposition to acquiring the disease as both men and women, heterosexual or homosexual, have the equal risk of acquiring the infection when exposed to it. Second, the use of this factor is also quite discriminating since it assumes being a homosexual is synonymous to being a person who practice risky sexual behavior. It fails to recognize the presence of those who practice protected sex and those who completely abstain from it. Probably, a better statement of the risk factor for acquiring the HIV infection would be “People who practice risky sexual behavior”

Another discriminating risk factor that I commonly read about is in Obstetrics where they label “Women from the lower socioeconomic level” as a risk factor of having poor nutrition. This factor assumes that these women do not have money to procure foods that will sustain the nutritional needs of their bodies and of their growing baby. But how about those informed women who, despite of having less money allocated for food, maintain optimal nutrition by buy cheaper substitutes? Can we still say that being from the lower socioeconomic level hinders them from being nutritionally adequate? Last time I’ve read, being poor doesn’t affect your intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients.

In a nutshell, I believe several risk factors are obviously generalizations which less accurately describes the people who are susceptible to the disease. To a point, they may also be considered as discriminatory  and insensitive to other sectors. Therefore, a systematic review of the risk factors is needed to make the risk factors more specific to the “risk population.” It may just be a problem concerning semantics but of course, this may mean a lot to those people who are unjustifiably labeled as “at risk.”

New BSN Curriculum Suggestions

Last week, I submitted a list of my thoughts to the Assistant Dean who was asking for feedback regarding the new  Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) curriculum which was mandated by the CHED Memorandum Order No.5. I may not be the best person to talk about curriculum development as my qualifications would present, although I think that thoughts from a humble product of the said curriculum might just help in its implementation. 


My thoughts might deviate a little from the prescribed curriculum but rest assured I try to line them up with the same goal of producing globally competitive nurses. Since the University of Santo Tomas (UST) is an autonomous institution, meaning it can design its own curricula, implementing some modifications to the prescribed BSN curriculum isn't impossible.

Here are my thoughts:

NURSING RESEARCH

Expanding the subject into two semesters allows the students to be more immersed in the field of research. Since the subject ends on the 1^st sem of the senior year, I think the decreased load is very welcome for the  students since they can concentrate on their graduation requirements on the 2nd semester.

RESEARCH APPLICATION

As part of the role of the nurse as a research consumer, I have this idea of adopting a more substantial  method of doing Nursing Care Plans (NCPs).  I suggest that we adopt a more evidence-based NCP by having the interventions supported by academic articles, internationally published journals, DOH/WHO recommendations, books, and other evidences aside from the NANDA. 

This practice does not only promote evidence based practice but it may also help the students in identifying the grey areas of nursing practice. Once they identify these areas, these can stand as the basis of their researches in their senior year. The findings of research can then be directly applied to the clinical area by using the best practice methods to date.

SKILLS FAIR

The skills fair really gave us the opportunity to practice our skills in the clinical area although I think the time isn’t enough for us to practice all of the skills included in the manual so I think additional time taken from the RLE is needed. To further stimulate the students to become better in the skills fair, I suggest that we have a Skills Fair Competition which will be open to all RLE groups. The RLE group who will get the highest score after performing all the skills will be then given an award or recognition. 


PRC ORIENTATION
There must be a formal orientation regarding the PRC and the different forms to be submitted for graduation at the sophomore level. This is to avoid confusion among the students regarding the requirements. The redundancies in the forms must also be addressed (see Intensive Nursing Practicum checklist and Green Book Checklist) so that the students would not be hassled by the different forms that I think are not really necessary.

COMPETENCY APPRAISAL

The Competency Appraisal (CA) is one of the new subjects offered by the new BSN curriculum. It serves two purposes: to measure and develop our competence and to review the basic concepts in all the areas of nursing practice. In UST, we had several case scenarios which were discussed in class, adopting a participative type of student directed learning. The CA teaching style really developed our critical thinking skills although it did not become very effective in reviewing us in all the aspects of nursing subjects. Neither did it compensate for the lecture classes similar to the review. With this issue, I suggest that the case discussion method in CA be reverted back to lecture classes. I have two ideas on how we will proceed without removing the much needed case discussions:

(1) CA will be integrated in the respective subjects in the lower years. For example, after we take our CHN subject in 2^nd year, we would be given a case scenario similar to the one in CA and the case would be discussed in class. By then we would have had the needed exposure in the case scenario, giving us more time to review basic concepts in the 4th year.

(2) Another suggestion is to integrate CA in the RLE during their exposure to the respective related area. For example, after we have our OR exposure, we will be given the case scenario which shall serve as the case presentation to assess our competence. This may lessen the burden in finding extra time in the classroom.

MEDICAL SURGICAL NURSING

I feel that the case scenario per system is quite a heavy load for the 3^rd year students. As they are already busy with other requirements form different subject, it does very little to encourage the student to immerse themselves into the core of the subject as the students focus more on “finishing the requirement” rather than reviewing for the subject. Well, this was my observation when I was in third year. Also, there isn’t ample time allotted for feedback in the classroom so the students do not really know if they get the correct answer.

The expansion of Medical Surgical Nursing up to the 4^th year 1^st semester is one of the good provisions of the new curriculum. However, I think that it does very little to decongest the load of the MS in the first two semesters as it discuss solely  both Emergency and Gerontologic Nursing. I think that some systems should be moved to MS3 so that the students can focus more on these systems as well as to lighten the load of the two semesters of MS.

I think that the gerontologic nursing can be downgraded into an elective course since it has a limited content while the elective Critical Care can be included in MS3 to allow more time for discussion as it has a broader scope.

ELECTIVES

Mother and Child – some topics overlap with OB and Pedia, probably we can have a well defined scope so that the discussions would not be repeated.

TQM –good to have as a subject so that we become oriented with the concepts of quality care. Although I think that the concepts in the subject can already be easily comprehended and can already be included in Nursing Leadership and Management.

Spiritual Care – a good way to increase awareness among the students. Adding a cultural care component to the subject would make it more interesting. 

Critical Care – a very useful and practical subject; I think it can be integrated in MS3

Suggested Electives:

Cultural Care Nursing – This is in line with Madeline Leininger’s theory. This may help in developing  culturally sensitive nurses, making them more globally competitive.

Gerontologic Nursing – as suggested to be separated from MS3

Complementary and Alternative Therapy Nursing - a lot of people are already welcoming new forms of therapy, nurses might as well be more familiar with these.

No to Mining in Palawan!

I recently attended a seminar about the "No to Mining in Palawan" movement. I didn't really give much attention to the campaign until I watched the video below:

Palawan is one of the Philippine's richest reservoir of biodiversity. Allowing the miners to exploit the area is tantamount doing injustice not only to the gifts given to the community but also the people whose once simple lives had been drastically affected by this proposed money making strategy. The fight against the different mining companies have already started and had done their share in tarnishing the Palawan's beauty, this shall continue until all of our resources are gone, thus I urge all of you, bloggers and readers, to take a stand and show your support in this fight for our country's resources. 


As for my contribution by, I would encourage more of my classmates to gather signatures for the campaign by showing them this video. I also got my hard copies of the signature campaign from the student council. and also placed a badge on my sidebar to show my support. :)

For more ways on how to help, you can visit www.no2mininginpalawan.com. 

Pro-Poor Campaign

Our countrymen have already expressed their disgust over the insensitive money squandering of our public servants amid the hellish economic situation in the Philippines.  In 1986, we witnessed the downfall of the Steel Butterfly Imelda Marcos, who was widely known for her vanity mostly epitomized  by her 2700 (and counting) pairs of shoes. In the year 2009, we have been enraged by the then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when she dined in New York along with her entourage with bills raising up to 20,000 dollars. (960,000 pesos) Just recently, we had sparks of controversy over President Noynoy Aquino’s  newly purchased third-hand 2007 Porsche. 

Is this an issue of corruption? Maybe not,  since most of the expenses came from their personal pockets. 

Is this an issue of vanity? Probably. 

How about an issue on insensitivity? Hell yes. 

This got me thinking how the lay people perceive it, who for that matter have hardly anything to eat while their leaders (who are supposed to be one with the masses) feast on food served in golden plates, satisfying their gustatory needs to the heavens.

But are we supposed to be pinpointing the ones only in position? The act of pinpointing is a science. It follows a certain rule that while it may be at times not just, it must always be equitable.

 How about those people who come from the upper class, who dine in the most expensive restos, drink overpriced coffee from overrated coffee shops for not less than a hundred bucks, wear no less than designer clothing, and those who waste their money in buying tokens from amusement parks? You might say that everyone deserves some sort of vanity and recreation, blah, blah, blah… but this is clearly beyond the point! The thing is,  have you ever thought of the others? The others who can’t barely buy a pack of instant mami to be shared by a family of four, the child who didn’t even have time to play because they were busy working their bones off to fund their schooling, the taong grasa who has nothing to wear but torn out garments. The others in poverty. The others not so blessed as you.

I now say publicly that I would now be an advocate of the poor. That I shall express disgust over the countless anti-poor ways as employed in the media through commercials, shows, etc.That I shall eternally vow to commit myself in a simple life, living by works of charity and selfless-giving. 

I shall enumerate the specifics of my advocacy in my next blog post.

Top photo from here