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• Early beliefs and practices about diseases and their causes

  • Diseases were shrouded with mysticism and superstitions
  • Causation of disease was attributed to another person, evil spirits, or special gods of healing
• Early care of the sick

  • Herbmen were called "Herbicheros" and practiced witchcraft
  • Difficult childbirth and some diseases were attributed to "nonos"
  • Midwives assisted in childbirth
• Health care during the Spanish regime

  • Religious orders built hospitals to care for the sick
  • Earliest hospitals established included Hospital Real de Manila, San Lazaro Hospital, Hospital de Indio, Hospital de Aguas Santas, and San Juan de Dios Hospital
• Prominent persons involved in nursing works during the Philippine Revolution

  • Josephine Bracken
  • Rosa Sevilla de Alvero
  • Dona Hilaria de Aguinaldo
  • Dona Maria Agoncillo de Aguinaldo
  • Melchora Aquino (Tandang Sora)
  • Capitan Salome
  • Agueda Kahabagan
  • Trinidad Tecson
• Filipino Red Cross


  • Established branches in the provinces
  • Functions included collecting war funds and materials, and providing nursing care to wounded Filipino soldiers
  • Requirements for membership included being at least 14 years old and of sound reputation
• The first hospitals and schools of nursing

  • Iloilo Mission Hospital School of Nursing
  • St. Paul's Hospital School of Nursing
  • Philippine General Hospital School of Nursing
  • St. Luke's Hospital of Nursing
  • Mary Johnston Hospital and School of Nursing
  • Philippine Christian Mission Institute Schools of Nursing
  • San Juan de Dios Hospital School of Nursing
  • Emmanuel Hospital School of Nursing
  • Southern Islands Hospital School of Nursing
• In the period of organization between 1907 and 1910, the first year nursing students of the Philippine General Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital and St. Paul's Hospital had a common first year course, known as the Central School Idea in nursing education
• The three schools selected their own students based on requirements such as educational preparation, sound physical and mental health, good moral character, and good family and social standing
• Other schools of nursing established

  • Zamboanga General Hospital School of Nursing
  • Chinese General Hospital School of Nursing
  • Baguio General Hospital School of Nursing
  • Manila Sanitarium and Hospital School of Nursing
  • St. Paul's School of Nursing in Iloilo City
  • North General Hospital and School of Nursing
  • Siliman University School of Nursing
• The first colleges of nursing in the Philippines were established
• Southern Islands Hospital School of Nursing (Cebu, 1918) was established in 1911 under the Bureau of Health. The School opened in 1918 with Anastacia Giron-Tupas, as the organizer. Miss Visitacion Perez was the first principal.
• Other Schools of Nursing established

  • Zamboanga General Hospital School of Nursing (1921)
  • Chinese General Hospital School of Nursing (1921)
  • Baguio General Hospital School of Nursing (1923)
  • Manila Sanitarium and Hospital School of Nursing (1930)
  • St. Paul's School of Nursing in Iloilo City (1946)
  • North General Hospital and School of Nursing (1946)
  • Siliman University School of Nursing (1947)
• The First Colleges of Nursing in the Philippines were:
• University of Santo Tomas College of Nursing


  Began as the UST School of Nursing Education on February 11, 1941. Operated as a separate entity from the Santo Tomas University Hospital. Courses designed to conform to the latest and most modern advances in nursing science and education. Ideals of Christian Charity permeated the course. In its first year, enrollees consisted of students from different schools of nursing whose studies were interrupted by war. In 1947, the Bureau of Private Schools permitted UST to grant the title of Graduate Nurse to the 21 students who were at the advanced standing. From 1948 to the present, the college has offered excellent education leading to the baccalaureate degree (BSN). Sor Taciana Triñanes was its first directress.
• Manila Central University College of Nursing


  First offered the BSN course in 1947. Served as the clinical field for practice. Miss Consuelo Gimeno was its first principal.
• University of the Philippines College of Nursing


  The idea of opening the college began in conference between Miss Julita Sotejo and then U.P. President Gonzales. Nurses who attended the biennial convention in May, 1946 endorsed the idea. In April, 1948, the University Council approved the curriculum, and the Board of Regents recognized the profession as having equal standing as medicine, law, engineering, etc. Miss Sotejo was its first dean.
• Nursing Leaders in the Philippines

  • Anastacia Giron-Tupas. First Filipino nurse to hold the position of Chief Nurse Superintendent; founder of the Philippine Nurses Association.
  • Cesaria Tan. First Filipino to receive a Masters degree in Nursing abroad.
  • Socorro Sirilan. Pioneered in Hospital Social Service in San Lazaro Hospital where she was the Chief Nurse.
  • Rosa Militar. A pioneer in school health education.
  • Sor Ricarda Mendoza. A pioneer in nursing education.
  • Socorro Diaz. First editor of the PNA magazine called "The Message"
  • Conchita Ruiz. First full-time editor of the newly named PNA magazine "The Filipino Nurse"
  • Loreto Tupaz. "Dean of the Philippine Nursing"; Florence Nightingale of Iloilo.
• Early institutions for child welfare

  • Hospicio de San Jose (Manila 1782)
  • Asylum of San Jose (Cebu)
  • Asylum of Looban (Manila)
  • Colegio de Santa Isabel (Naga City). Took care of poor girls,
  • Gota de Leche (Manila, 1907). Milk station. Its Objective was to promote health in infants through proper feeding.
  • Liga Nacional Filipiniana para la Protection de la Primera Infancia. Worked for the passage of child welfare legislations.
  • Public Welfare Board. Took over the work of the Liga in 1915; conducted a systematic campaign on child hygiene in 1917.
• Accredited Professional Organizations of Nursing


  • Ang Nars, Inc.
  • Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing (ADPCN)
  • Association of Diabetes Nurse Educators of the Philippines, Inc. (ADNEP)
  • Association of Nursing Service Administrators of the Philippines (ANSAP)
  • Association of Private Duty Nurse Practitioners Philippines (APDNPP)
  • Critical Care Nurses Association of the Philippines, Inc. (CCNAPI)
  • Gerontology Nurses Association of the Philippines (GNAP)
  • Military Nurses Association of the Philippines (MNAP)
  • Mother and Child Nurses Association of the Philippines (MCNAP)
  • National League of Philippine Government Nurses (NLPGN)
  • Occupational Health Nurses Association of the Philippines, Inc. (OHNAP)
  • Operating Room Nurses Association of the Philippines (ORNAP)
  • Philippine Hospital Infection Control Nurses Association (PHICNA)
  • Philippine Nurses Association (PNA)
  • Philippine Nursing Informatics Association (PNIA)
  • Philippine Nurses Research Society (PNRS)
  • Philippine Oncology Nurses Association (PONA)
• Men of medicine built hospitals, practiced an intuitive form of asepsis and were proficient in the practice of medicine and surgery in India
• Sushurutu made a list of function and qualifications of nurses. For the first time in recorded history, there was a reference to the nurse's taking care of patients. these nurses were described as combination of physical therapist and cook
• Nursing was the task of untrained slave in Ancient Greece
• The Greeks introduced the caduceus, the insignia of the medical profession today
• Hippocrates, born in Greece, was given the title "Father of Scientific Medicine." He made a major advance in medicine by rejecting the belief that diseases had supernatural causes. He also developed assessment standards for clients, established overall medical standards, recognized a need for nurses
• The transition from pagan to Christian philosophy took place. There was a contrast between the materialism of pagan society and the spirituality of the converted Christians in Rome
• Care of the ill was left to the slaves or Greek physicians. Both groups were looked upon as inferior by Roman society
• Fabiola was a worldly, beautiful Roman matron who was converted to Christian by her friends Marcella and Paula. With their help, she made her home the first hospital in the Christian world
• Period of Apprentice Nursing

  Extends from the founding of religious nursing orders in the Crusades, which began in the 11th century and ended in 1836, when Pastor Theodor Fliedner and his wife established the Kaiserswerth Institute for the Training of Deaconesses (a training school for nurses) in Germany
• Nursing care was performed without any formal education and by people who were directed by more experienced nurses. Religious orders of the Christian Church were responsible for the development of this kind of nursing
• The Crusades


  • Holy Wars waged in an attempt to recapture the Holy Land from the Turks who denied Christian pilgrims permission to visit the Holy Sepulcher
  • Military religious orders established hospitals staffed with men
• Military Religious Orders and Their Works


  • Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (Italian)
  • Teutonic Knights (German)
  • Knights of St. Lazarus
• The Alexian Brothers were members of a monastic order founded in 1348. They established the Alexian Brothers Hospital School of Nursing, the largest School of Nursing under religious order. It operated exclusively for men in the United States. The school closed in 1969
• During this period, there was also the rise of Religious Nursing Orders for women. Although Christianity promoted equality to all men, women were still concentrated in their roles as wives and mothers. Only by entering a convent that she could follow a career, obtain an education and perform acts of charity that her faith taught would help her gain grace in heaven. Queens, princesses and other ladies of royalty founded many religious orders
• Religious taboos and social restrictions influenced nursing at the time of the religious Nursing Orders. Hospitals were poorly ventilated and the beds were filthy. There was overcrowding of patients: three or four patients, regardless of diagnosis or whether they are alive or dead, may have shared one bed. Practice of environmental sanitation and asepsis were non-existent. Older nuns prayed with and took good care of the sick; while the younger nuns washed soiled linens, usually in the rivers
• Secular Orders Founded During the Period of The Crusades


  • Order of St. Francis of Assisi (1200- present)
  • The Beguines
  • Benedictines
  • The Oblates (12th century)
  • Ursulines
• St. Catherine of Siena was the first "Lady with a Lamp". She was 25th child of humble Italian parents. She pledged her life to service at the age of seven and was referred to as little saint. She was a hospital nurse, prophetess, researcher and a reformer of society and the church
• The world of nursing, despite wars and plagues made considerable progress under the influence of Christianity. It may be said that nursing owes its foundation to the work of benevolent men and women, the crusades and the guilds. But this progress in nursing was brought to a halt by industrial and political revolution and the Reformation in the 16th century
• Situations resulting from industrial and political revolution and the Reformation in the 16th century


  • The masses of people huddled in slums as a result of famine, wars and the introduction of machinery (industrial revolution)
  • Living in blighted slum areas, the people sank into brutal and immoral way of life
  • Ambition for power and the antagonism resulting from the attempts to achieve this power replaced human empathy
  • Class lines could be bypassed in some parts of the world, and people struggled against one another for power, wealth and leisure
  • Skepticism was the result of political, intellectual, and ideological revolutions; everything in life had to be based upon scientific fact. Nothing else was true
• In the 16th century, hospitals were established for the care of the sick. The hospitals were gloomy, cheerless and airless. They were unsanitary. People entered hospitals only under compulsion or as last resort. There was little employment and education was only for the rich and the titled
• St. Vincent de Paul seeing pervading poverty and the generally poor health conditions organized the group called "Le Charite" and the community of the Sisters of Charity. The latter was composed of women who lived uncloistered and were dedicated to doing God's work through caring for the sick, the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed. Louise de Gras (nee Marillac) was the first superior and co-founder of this order