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[Rules and Regulations, no date, for Medical College Hospital]

Genl Hospl Medical College

Regulations of the Hospital of the Medical College of Virginia

President

The faculty shall select from their body a President to serve for one year or until a successor shall be appointed.

The president shall superintend the Hospital in all its departments and direct its fiscal concerns.

He shall cause a register to be kept of all admissions into the Hospital and shall disclose all monies received from or on account of patients by the steward according to the wants of the house, and report quantity to the Faculty or oftener.

Steward and Matron

A Steward and Matron shall be appointed by the Faculty to continue in office during the pleasure of the faculty and no longer.

The Steward shall, under the direction of the President of the Hospital, take charge of the central management of the Hospital. He shall:

1. Procure the necessary servants and nurses and see that they perform their duties.

2. Attend to the marketing, laying in of fuel, and all necessary supplies.

3. Superintend the cooking and see that every patient has at the proper time the diet prescribed by the attending Physician or Surgeon.

4. Superintend the washing and see that all the rooms and furniture of the Hospital are kept in a state of cleanliness.

7. Appoint for each patient the ward and bed he or she shall occupy and change the same from time to time as occasion may require but subject always in the report to the orders of the Physicians or Surgeon under whose care the patients may be.

9. In these duties the Steward will be aided by the Matron and particularly in the superintendence of the cooking and washing.

10. The matron shall make the necessary bed furniture, towels, curtains, &c, and do the necessary mending to the same, take care of them, and the other furniture of the establishment and keep the whole in good order.

11. The Steward and Matron will be subject to the control of the President of the Hospital in the discharge of their duties and as many things may be required at their hands which cannot be enumerated, they will be governed in all cases by very specific directives that may be given by him. In cases of Surgical operations, the Surgeon shall cause any number of the Faculty to be notified by the same at least two hours beforehand and in every case requiring an operation which may hazard the life of the patient or maim him. The Surgeon shall hold a consultation with at least two of the professors.

The attending Physician and Surgeon shall visit the Hospital every day at stated periods and when prevented by indisposition or other urgent reason shall obtain the services of one of his colleagues during his time of absence.

Resident or House Physician

It shall be the duty of the Resident or House Physician to visit all the wards of the Hospital morning and evening to see that the prescriptions of the attending Physicians and Surgeons are accurately carried out to see that the patients have their proper diet and in cases of emergency in the absence of the attending Physician and Surgeon to prescribe for the patient.

He shall report all delinquencies in the discharge of the duties which come under his supervision to the President of the Hospital.

Resident Students

It shall be the duty of the Resident students to accompany the attending Physician and Surgeon in their daily visits to the Hospital and see that all their orders are strictly and punctually observed.

They shall make and personally administer the prescriptions, bleed, cup, apply blisters, dressing and bandages, and superintend the administration of _____ patients.

They shall have assigned to them in regular rotation unless specially directed otherwise by the attending Physician or Surgeon the patients admitted into the Hospital and each one shall keep a regular list of the patients so assigned him with the disease, operation if any, and condition hen discharged together with the prescriptions for the respective patients and the time and manner of administering such prescriptions and any symptoms deemed important occurring in their observation, such symptoms to be reported to the attending Physicians or Surgeon on his next visit.

They shall always dress the surgical patient by 8 o’clock unless otherwise directed by the attending Surgeon and shall in no case dispute the duty to any servant of the institution.

They shall visit the medical patients by the same hour unless otherwise directed by the attending Physician. Violation of any of the foregoing rules will be reported by the Resident Physician to the attending Physician or Surgeon.

They shall be required so to arrange their time that one of them shall always be in the building.

They shall occupy a room in the Hospital suitably furnished and shall sleep in the Hospital.

They are forbidden to furnish a bed or any accommodation to a friend or to allow their room to be made a lounging place for their acquaintances.

They shall not speak of the health of any patient in the presence of such patients.

They shall not under any circumstances strike or maltreat any patient or servant of the institution but if there is reason for complaint on the part of the Resident Student, such complaints shall be made to the Steward of the Hospital

Card playing or other vice in any of the rooms by any of the attendants of the Hospital is strictly prohibited.

Regulations for the dispensary

The Resident Students shall arrange the various medicines in the Dispensary in the most convenient manner. After which arrangement any medicine shall be returned to its place immediately on being used.

The spatulas, tiles, and measuring glasses shall be placed conveniently and shall be cleaned and returned to their places immediately after being used by the students so using them.

All ardent spirits and wine shall be kept in bulk by the Steward among the stores of the Hospital, but a sufficient quantity for the ordinary use of the patients shall be kept in the Dispensary under the charge of the Resident Physician and the daily prescriptions for the same shall be dispensed therefrom by the Resident Students in the same manner as medicines in general.

Miscellaneous Regulations

No person except the Physicians and Surgeons of the Hospital shall speak of the health of a patient in the presence of such patient.

The smoking of tobacco is prohibited in the wards and passages of the Hospital.

Page last updated on 02/12/2008