[ Act No. 3025, March 08, 1922 ]

AN ACT AMENDING CERTAIN SECTIONS OF ACT NUMBERED TWENTY- EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHT, ENTITLED "AN ACT REGULATING THE PRACTICE OF THE NURSING PROFESSION IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

Be it enacted by the  Senate and House  of Representatives of  the Philippines in  Legislature  assembled and  by the  authority  of the same:

SECTION 1. Section ten of Act Numbered Twenty-eight hundred and eight is hereby amended to  read as follows:

"SEC.  10. Inhibition against  practice  of nursing  by unregistered  persons.—Unless exempt from registration  as ' hereinafter provided, no person shall practice the profession of nursing in  the Philippine Islands without having previously obtained the proper certificate of registration from the Board  of Examiners for Nurses.

"A person shall be deemed  practising the profession of nursing,  within the meaning of this section, who shall, for compensation or reward, either direct or  indirect to  himself or other  person, perform nursing services, that is, give bed-side  care or treatment; administer medicines or attend and  take care  of sick persons in  their houses under the direction of a medical man, or be employed as graduate nurse in any  hospital, institution, school, office, corporation  or society,  either  public or private, or engage as  instructor in any training school for nurses; but this provision  shall not  apply  to  student nurses  practising  in any  legally chartered school or college  of  nursing, or in any clinic or hospital  under the direction of a professor of such school or college or  of a physician  or  dental surgeon of such clinic or hospital, or to Red Cross aids or welfare workers employed by public or private  institutions engaged in welfare work; nor  shall this section be construed to interfere with the legitimate practice of physicians, surgeons or midwives in conformity with the provisions of the Medical Law."

SEC. 2. Qualifications, registration  of Red Cross aids, and registration fees.—Red  Cross aids and welfare workers II shall be  registered with the Board  as such upon furnishing evidence  of qualifications required by rules and regulations promulgated to that effect by the Board, subject to the approval of the  Department Head,  and payment of a fee of one peso.

SEC. 3. Section thirteen of Act Numbered Twenty-eight hundred  and eight is  hereby amended to  read as follows:

"SEC.  13. Persons  exempt from  examination.—Certificates of  registration  may be  issued without examination " to nurses  who  at the time of the promulgation of this Act  are  in actual practice  in the Philippine Islands and have their  diplomas issued  by a duly recognized school  or college of nursing, upon payment of the  proper fees.   Certificates of  registration may  also be issued without examination, upon payment of the proper fees, to nurses who shall have graduated from  a duly recognized school or college of nursing during the year nineteen hundred  and nineteen, to nurses at present in the Government service or in the service of reputable private hospitals who have served as such for at least five consecutive years and  have such  other additional  qualifications as the Board of Examiners  for Nurses may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, prescribe; and to nurses registered under the laws of any State or territory of the United States or of any foreign country: Provided, That the requirements for the registration or licensing of nurses in the particular state, territory or country, are substantially the same as those prescribed by section  fifteen of this Act: And provided, further, That the laws of such  state, territory or country grant the same privilege to Filipino nurses as is hereby granted to nurses from such state, territory  or country applying  for registration under the laws of the Philippine Islands."

SEC. 4. Section fourteen  of Act Numbered  Twenty-eight hundred and eight is hereby amended to read as follows:

SEC.  14. Semi-annual examinations.—The   Board  of Examiners for nurses shall meet in the city of  Manila for the purpose of examining  candidates desiring to practice the profession of nursing in the Philippine Islands on the second Monday of April and October of  each  year or as often as the Board may deem  necessary  upon  authorization by  the Secretary  of  the Interior.  The Board  may meet and hold examinations for the same purpose in other points of the Archipelago  upon authorization granted by the Secretary of the Interior, who shall in each case designate the date  when such examination shall take place."

SEC. 5. Section sixteen  of  Act Numbered  Twenty-eight hundred and eight is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC.  16. Issuance of certificate of registration.—Every candidate  who successfully passes the aforesaid examination shall receive a certificate of registration as nurse,  and shall be entitled  to append the  letters R.  N.  to  his or her name: Provided,  That a provisional certificate may be issued by the Board to any graduate from a duly recognized school of nursing, which provisional certificate shall  be  valid until the Board cancels it.  Provisional  certificates may also be issued to  American  and foreign nurses pending the  approval of their application for permanent registration as provided in section three of this Act.

"All certificates shall  be signed by a  majority of the members of the  Board  and shall be attested  by its official seal."

SEC. 6.  This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved, March 8,  1922.