Velez College has topnotchers in the July 2010 PT-OT Board Exam

Amy Fritzie Chiu Yee of Velez College in Cebu City got the number 2 spot among Occupational Therapy Board exam takers with a rating of 80.60 while Keziah Loren Pascual Shan was number 8 in the Physical Therapy Board Exam with a rating of 84.45. The exams were held just this month of July 2010.

Congratulations to these 2 topnotchers from Cebu PT-OT schools, Velez College in particular, and all the examinees. By the way, 434 out of 938 passed the Physical and Occupational Therapists Licensure Examination.

The oathtaking ceremony of the successful examinees in the said examinations will be held on Sunday, September 19, 2010 at 1:00 PM at the Manila Hotel, One Rizal Park, Manila.

Below is the roll of successful PT examinees:

PTjuly2010

Below is the roll of successful OT examinees:

OTjuly2010

Download Philippine National Ethical Guidelines for Health Research

Sometimes when the internet connection is slow, it is very difficult to download pdf files from Philippine government websites. Since many health students and professionals need to know these ethical guidelines when doing health research locally, I decided to have an alternate site for download through my blog.

These guidelines are not the product of my work. These are from the Philippine National Health Research system. I am just sharing this to disseminate the information regarding the importance of ethical considerations in health research. I am just assuming it is OK to share this document (to help disseminate the information) since it is being shared anyway by the Philippine Department of Science and Technology. I will be willing to remove this said document from my blog, should sharing through blogs is not allowed.

So here it is...

Philippine National Ethical Guidelines

Postgraduate Course on Health Promotion and Education on October 25-29, 2010

The Department of Health Promotion and Education, College of Public Health, University of the Philippines Manila will conduct a postgraduate course on Octobers 25-29, 2010 at the Press Room of the College of Public Health, UP-Manila.

The course aims to deepen the participants' knowledge on the basics of health promotion and enhance their skills in using the different strategies in promoting health.

Opportunities like this should be grabbed especially for those doing health education activities in the local government units and non-governmental organizations. The trainings are designed for them as well as for those faculty handling subjects like Strategies in Health Education, Community and Public Health or anyone who may be interested to work in the field of health education in the future.

For more details, contact Prof. Ernesto R. Gregorio, Jr., MPH, course coordinator at (02) 5260811 or email at junr.gregorio@yahoo.com

Proper Way of Inserting Nasogastric Tube (NGT)

Skills development is sometimes being overlooked. One example is NGT or nasogastric tube insertion. Here is a video courtesy of Clinisnips in Youtube which shows the proper way of inserting a nasogastric tube. I would like to emphasize though...one has to wear gloves in doing this procedure.

How Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 Helped Me as a Student

My Microsoft 2007's OneNote is installed in both my laptop computers -- the Neo and Asus laptops and during my masteral studies, it was an indispensable tool for me.  Before, all I know about MS Office is Powerpoint, Excel and Word.

Working from my computer desk at the boarding house, I often search the net a lot for my assigned oral and written reports as well as research proposal. The internet and OneNote go hand in hand.

When I find nice pictures or drawings I like in the net that were available in the public domain, instead of copying the pictures and pasting in Powerpoint, I use the "Clip"  button of OneNote and then paste them in Powerpoint, without worrying about acquiring a big picture or graphic file that could slow down a computer or a powerpoint presentation.

When I find notable phrases, I either copy and Paste to OneNote the phrase of interest and automatically OneNote pastes also the link of the source of the phrase. I can look at the sentences or phrases pasted in my OneNote later for reference. I do not need to manually write the url in a paper or index card.

One thing also nice about OneNote is you don't need to press save file. You can also conveniently use it for taking notes and share a printed copy with classmates after by saving it as a Word file or pdf.

Elements in the OneNote page can be rearranged and you can place or make checklists of things to do.

During meetings for our research group, I can make meeting notes that are organized.

So you see, you may not be realizing that your Microsoft Office has a very useful application in the form of OneNote. Press the start button and look under All Programs and Microsoft Office, you may have OneNote installed which may be lying around idle.

Go on explore and use it. It is a gem that needs to be tapped.

New Schoolyear: A Preview of Things to Come

As we start the new school year for medical and related fields, allow me to welcome you and show you as well a preview of things to come...

Starting is fun. There will be lots of clowning around as one adjusts to the new environment and meet new friends...

As lessons start, more time will be spent on reading. You will read and read and read, falling asleep in the process... Biochemistry...Anatomy...Physiology...Microbiology...Parasitology...Nutrition...Hematology, etc.

There will be laboratory sessions which are exciting because you get to see "new" things!

But here come the exams and there will be ups and downs in the scores. There will be times you want to sleep the results off, trying to forget a bad score in one exam.

Of course, research is part now of education. You will have to defend your paper in the future. There will be intense grilling by a panel.

But in the end, do not lose sight of your goals. I tell you, in no time, you will finish your course and graduate...

And finally achieve your dreams!

and then start learning all over again.

Life is after all, a continuous learning process.

Welcome students!

Tragedy in Balamban

This was the sad headline that was the front page of Cebu papers this Monday morning. A day of mourning for relatives of those who passed away when a tourist bus booked by a group of 50 Iranian nationals reported to be mostly medical students who had an outing for sight seeing and relaxation fell instead into a deep ravine while traversing the Trans Central Highway in Balamban town Cebu at around 10 AM Sunday Philippine time.

It was supposed to be a day of fun and relaxation. But midway to the day, tragedy struck which left 20 people dead including the Filipino driver. As one can see from the photos of the accident site, the bus bearing the plate GWZ-666 was turned upside down.

Not all of the victims were students. Some of the reported injured were nurses, doctors including an ophthalmologist and a nanny.

Our condolences to the Iranians and the relatives of the other passengers in this accident. I had a classmate in my masteral studies before who was Iranian who was an alumni of one of the medical schools where some of these students were said to have enrolled. I hope he had no relatives among those who died in that tragic accident.

This tragedy brings into mind also the last time when medical and allied medical studies from outside the Philippines as a community mourned the death of their loved ones. It was December 1999 when a ferry sank leaving several Nepalese students enrolled in Cebu schools dead and missing as they were about to enjoy the holidays as a group. A good friend of mine Sujan Shrestha was among the dead.

Here is the link to the story on this recent Balamban tragedy.