THREE nursing professors from the College of Health Sciences left June 15 for Hawai’i, particularly for the University of Hawai’i (UH) to take part in the implementation of the faculty exchange program between MMSU and the said school.

Prof. Teresita Ann O. Tinio, CHS dean; Dr. Manolita S. Crisostomo, MMSU-UH partnership coordinator; and Prof. Rosario V. Acdal, CHS extension coordinator, are at the UH-Kapi’olani Community College (KCC) until July 10 to experience nursing in United States hospitals.  They and the KCC faculty members will be exchanging teaching strategies and ideas on how to improve both schools’ nursing programs.

Specifically, they will be assigned to follow one KCC instructor for one week in the classroom, in the laboratory, and in a clinical set-up.  They will also work with a KCC librarian to learn how to retrieve journal articles using Voyager.  Further, they will visit clinical sites as well as the UH-Manoa simulation laboratory.  KCC will also acquaint them with Assessment Technologies Institute as an example of assessment testing.

The visit of the three senior CHS faculty members fulfills one of the provisions of the Memorandum of Agreement between MMSU and UH that was initiated in December 2005 in Honolulu at an international conference and again by Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle on her visit to the Philippines in January 2006.  The university is one of the three schools in Region I included in the partnership with UH.  The others are University of Northern Philippines and Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation.

The faculty exchange program between KCC and the three universities aims to improve the schools’ nursing curriculum and assist in faculty development.  The local schools also requested KCC to assist them in their preparation for the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses and update them on medical and nursing technologies.

Tinio’s airfare was charged from the RLE fund while Crisostomo’s and Acdal’s were granted by the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte through lawyer Ferdinand Dumlao, chief of special projects.

While in Hawai’i, the three faculty members will also reunite with MMSU nursing alumni based in the US Mainland.  Here, they will share the college’s accomplishments, plans, and programs as well as follow-up the group’s donation as promised during the grand alumni homecoming in January 2007 at MMSU.