Republic Act No. 4704

REPUBLIC ACT No. 4704 June 18, 1966

AN ACT TO AMEND CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTY-SEVEN, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "PHILIPPINE NURSING LAW."

Section 1. Section two of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 2. Section four of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 3. Section five of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 4. Section seven of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 5. Section thirteen of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 6. Section fourteen of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 7. Section fifteen of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 8. Section seventeen of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 9. Section eighteen of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 10. Section twenty of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 11. Section twenty-one of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 12. Section twenty-two of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 13. Section twenty-three of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 14. Section twenty-six of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred seventy-seven is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 15. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 18, 1966

"Sec. 2. Name and composition of the Board. The Board shall be known as the Board of Examiners for Nurses and shall be composed of a chairman and four members who shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the commission on appointments, from a list of twelve nominees of registered nurses of recognized standing in the Philippines, as may be certified equally by the officially recognized national association of nurses in the Philippines and possessing the qualifications prescribed in section four of this Act."

"Sec. 4. Qualifications of Board members. The members of the Board shall, at the time of appointment:

"Sec. 5. Term of office. The members of the Board shall hold office for a term of three years or until their successors shall have been appointed and duly qualified: Provided, That the members of the first Board Appointed under this Act shall hold office for the following terms: One member for one year, one member for two years, and one member for three years: Provided, further, That upon the approval of this amendatory act, new chairman and members of the board shall hold office for a term of three years and may be reappoint but only once for a term of three years: Provided furthermore, That the chairman and members of the present board shall continue to serve until the unexpired portion of their terms and may be reappointed but only once for a term of three years: Provided, furthermore, That the member serving the last years of his term shall automatically become chairman of the board: and Provided, finally, That in case there are two or more members serving the last year of their terms in the board, the most senior of them shall automatically become the chairman.

"Any vacancy occurring within the term of a member shall be filled for the unexpired portion of the term only. Each member of the Board shall qualify by taking the proper oath of office prior to entering upon the performance of his or her duties."

"Sec. 7. Compensation of the Board Members. The members of the Board shall each receive as compensation a fee not exceeding ten pesos per capita of the candidates examined: Provided, That the said compensation shall in no case exceed eighteen thousand pesos yearly."

"Sec. 13. Clinical and public health nursing facilities. No hospital, school, college or university shall be permitted to operate a school, college or institute of nursing unless such hospital, school, college or university shall establish and operate a base hospital with at least one hundred authorized beds to be available for occupancy by medical, (including communicable) surgical, obstetric and pediatric patients: Provided, That such schools, colleges or universities actually operating a duly recognized school of nursing may be allowed to establish and operate a home hospital of at least fifty authorized beds and to affiliate with other hospitals for the remaining balance necessary to fulfill the one hundred authorized beds base hospital requirement for training purposes: Provided, further, That no hospital in such arrangement shall have less than one hundred beds at its disposal: and Provided, finally, That not later than January 1, 1971, all schools, colleges or universities must have already established such base hospital of at least one hundred authorized beds as prescribed herein.

"Schools, Colleges or Universities offering courses to nurses on the undergraduate and/or graduate levels should also make necessary provisions for required experience of students in nursing school hospitals and public health nursing agencies."

"Sec. 14. Qualifications of faculty members. The dean, director or principal of the school, college or institute of nursing should be a qualified nurse with the following minimum qualifications:

The instructors in clinical nursing courses should be registered nurses with the following minimum qualifications:

The instructor in public health nursing should be a nurse with the following minimum qualifications:

"Sec. 15. General entrance requirements to schools, colleges and universities of nursing. Applicants desiring to enter any hospital school, college or institute of nursing must show evidence of completion of at least one year of college work in a recognized educational institution. Areas of study should include courses in the physical, biological, social and behavioral sciences and humanities: Provided, That chemistry, psychology and zoology shall be included.

"Sec. 17. Scope of practice of nursing. A person shall be deemed to be practicing professional nursing, within the meaning and intent of this Act, who shall, for a fee, salary, or other reward, or compensation, perform professional services such as:

"Sec. 18. Holding of examination. Examination for candidates desiring to practice nursing in the Philippines shall be given by the Board not earlier than one month but not later than two months after the official closing of the semestral term prescribed by the Department of Education, to be held in Manila or at such other time and place as may be deemed necessary and expedient by the Board subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Civil Service and the President of the Philippines."

"Sec. 20. Qualifications of applicants. In order to be admitted to the nurse examination, an applicant must, at the time of filing his or her application therefor, establish to the satisfaction of the Board that:

"Sec. 21. Scope of examination. The examination for the practice of nursing in the Philippines shall consist of tests in writing, the scope of which shall be determined by the Board taking into consideration the teaching plan of all schools legally established and duly recognized by the government. It shall be the duty of the board to prepare the schedule of subjects of the examination, which shall include medical nursing, general surgical nursing, nursing in surgical specialties, obstetrics nursing, nursing of children, communicable disease nursing, public health nursing, professional adjustments, mental health and psychiatric nursing and fundamentals of nursing. The following shall be integrated in the examination in clinical nursing courses: anatomy and physiology, microbiology, pharmacology and therapeutics, and social foundations of nursing. It shall submit the same to the President of the Philippines for approval through the Commissioner of Civil Service and publish in a newspaper of national general circulation, the same as approved at least two months before the date of the examination wherein they are to be used. Any alteration or amendment that may be made in the said schedule shall likewise be approved by the President of the Philippines, through the commissioner of civil service."

"Sec. 22. Ratings in the examination. In other to pass the first examination, a candidate must obtain a general rating of seventy-five per cent in the written test, with no rating below sixty per cent in any subject. An applicant who fails in the first examination but obtained seventy-five per cent in each of at least seven of the subjects may be permitted to take a second examination on the subjects in which examinee obtained below seventy-five per cent. In order to pass in the second examination the candidate must obtain at least seventy-five per cent in each of the repeated subjects; Provided, That an applicant who failed again in the set of subjects repeated in the second examination must take re-examination on all subjects: Provided, further, That should he or she still fail in this second re-examination, the applicant shall be required to pursue as refresher course of study prescribed by the board and to show proof of the completion of such course before he or she will be admitted to a fourth examination."

"Sec. 23. Report of results of examination. The Board of Examiners for Nurses, shall, within one hundred twenty days after the examination, report the rating obtained by each candidate to the Commissioner of Civil Service. The board shall likewise furnish copies of the ratings obtained in each subject by each candidate as well as the questionnaires used in the examination to the respective schools, colleges or universities of nursing and to the Bureau of private schools."

"Sec. 26. Fees for examination and registration. Applicants for examination for the profession of nursing shall pay an examination fee of fifty pesos. Successful applicants shall pay a registration fee of twenty pesos."