ΤΟ DISPENSERS t AT THE HOSPITALS FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT HOME. By the COMMISSIONERS for conducting ARTICLE I. THE Agent is invested with full Authority over every Person Authority of in all Matters relating to the general Economy, Discipline, and good Order of the Hospital. You are therefore to obey his Directions in every Instance, excepting in Cases that are purely medical, and if the same should at any Time be contradictory to these Instructions, or any other standing Regulations which you may then be under, you are to inform him thereof in Writing; but if, notwithstanding, he should deem it proper to persist in the Order he has given, you are immediately to comply therewith, and represent by Letter, through him, the Circumstance to us. B the Agent. All Corres pondence to be carried on through the Agent. Description of Stores to of the Dispenser. II. In order that the Agent may have complete Knowledge of the Concerns of the Hospital, all Orders and Letters relative thereto from this Board will be sent unsealed, under Cover, to him, and "all Communications of whatever Nature, which you may hold with us, are to be delivered, unsealed, to the Surgeon, that he may forward them through the Agent, with such Remarks as he may judge necessary. Your periodical Accounts and Reports of every Description, with the necessary Receipts and Vouchers, are also to be laid before the Surgeon, for his Examination and Approval, previously to his transmitting them, through the Agent, to us. III. You are to have Charge of all the Stores, Medicines, Drugs, be in Charge Utensils, and Necessaries, including Sponge, Bandages, Splints, Trusses, and every other surgical Implement, or Material, which may be furnished for the Use of Patients in the Hospital, excepting such operative surgical Instruments as may be directed to remain in the Charge of the Surgeon; and upon entering on the Duties of your Office, you are to make Application, in Writing, to the Agent, for a Survey to be taken on the Remains of those Articles; and you, as well as the surveying Officers, are to take an Account thereof, and the Quantities contained in the Report of Survey, which is to be forthwith transmitted to us, will be considered as your first Charge. You are also to receive such further Supplies of the above Description, as may, from Time to Time, be sent to the Hospital; and you are to be responsible for the Care and Preservation of the whole, for the faithful and economical Expenditure thereof, and for keeping such Accounts of the same, as are hereinafter particularly directed, agreeably to the several Forms in the Appendix to these Instructions, or in such other Manner or Form, as may hereafter be required by us. IV. Medicines, As the Surgeon is directed to superintend the Duties of the Receipt of Dispensary, and to inspect all the Articles supplied for its Use, &c. you are to give timely Notice to him, when any are brought to the Hospital, and, in Conjunction with him, carefully to examine the Quality, and compare the Quantity, of all such Stores, with the Invoices or Bills of Parcels. Should there be no Objection to their being received, you are to enter an Account thereof, in a Book to be kept by you in the Form annexed (Appendix No. 1.), which Entries are always to be signed by you and the Surgeon, in Testimony of your having, in Conjunction, inspected the Stores; and when Medicines, Drugs, or Necessaries shall, upon such Inspection, be found not to correspond with the Invoice or Bill of Parcels, or to be of a Quality unfit to be received, you are to make out an Account thereof, stating the Deficiency, or the Cause of their Unfitness, as the Case may be, which Account is to be signed by you and the Surgeon, and transmitted to us, with for the Supplies approved. V. your Receipts You are to issue Medicines for the Use of each Patient, agreeably to the Prescription of the Surgeon, which will be contained in a Ticket, in the annexed Form (Appendix, No. 2.); and with a View to prevent any of them from sustaining Damage by Time, you are to be careful that the old Supplies be expended, previously to your beginning to use any of those which may have been Issue of Medicines, &c. recently received. You are also to issue such Supplies of Sponge, Bandages, Splints, Trusses, or other Implements, or Materials, as he may demand by Note under his Hand, for the Use of his Patients, and which may not be proper to be included in the Prescription Tickets; observing however, that, without being demanded, either by a Prescription Ticket or Note, as above specified, no Article whatever is to be issued from the Dispensary; and whenever the Nature of any of the above Articles will admit of their being of further Use, after they shall be no longer wanted for the Purpose for which they were demanded, you are, on their being returned, to be careful to re-charge yourself therewith. You are further to be very particular, that all Prescriptions be made up Care of Me- with the strictest Care, and that the various Drugs, Utensils, and Necessaries, entrusted to you, be examined at short Intervals, in order to prevent any Part of them from getting damaged, by Damp, by Vermin, or by any other Cause; and, as the Surgeon is instructed to inspect occasionally the Stores and Medicines in your Charge, you are to give every Explanation he may require, as to the Means which you have used for preserving them, and to lay before him your Accounts whenever he may require it, for the Purpose of his examining how far your Expenditure of Medicines, Necessaries, &c. agrees with his Prescriptions and Demands. dicines. Accounts of Issues to be submitted to the Inspection of the Surgcon. Caution against the Medicines. VI. To prevent the dangerous Consequences of Patients receiving Use of wrong Wrong Medicines, by Mistake, you are to be very careful that the Covers of the Prescription Tickets for each Ward have constantly the Number of the Ward marked thereon, in large Figures, and every Medicine Basket a Tally affixed thereto, expressing the Number of the Ward to which it belongs; that every Patient's Medicine be separately made up, and his Name distinctly written thereon, in Words at length; and that the Medicines put into each Basket be compared by you with the Prescription Tickets; and your Initials shall be signed in a Column on the Inside of the Cover thereof, to shew that this essential Inspection has taken Place. VII. You are to take Care, that the utmost Economy be observed with respect to the Expenditure of Bottles, Phials, Gally-pots, &c. and that, on their being returned from the Wards, they be properly washed, in order that they may be in Readiness to be again made use of; and you are to take all possible Precaution, by adopting the most effectual Check in your Power on the Nurses, to ensure their returning all Articles of the above Description which they may carry to the Wards, so soon as they shall be empty, or no longer required for the Patients; and should any of the Nurses neglect their Duty in this Respect, you are to represent the same to the Surgeon and the Agent, stating the Value of such Articles as you may have reason to believe have not been returned by the Nurses, in order that it may be deducted from their Wages, if, on Enquiry into their Conduct, it shall be judged proper. You are to direct that all broken Bottles and Phials, of every Description, be saved and delivered to the Agent, to be sold with other unserviceable Stores. VIII. You are to give timely Notice to the Surgeon, by a List under your Hand, in alphabetical Order, in the Form annexed (Appen Economical Use of Phials Demand for Medicines & |