I am looking specifically for how to use the first definition given here:
to cause to enter drop by drop (instill medication into the infected eye)
but I imagine usage rules would apply equally to the the sense of instilling a sense of something in someone.
I can't work out if "patients were instilled with medication" would be incorrect, or if it is just an alternative construction of "medication was instilled into patients".
My Google search results are dominated by usage pertaining to instilling a sense of something in someone or variants of "All patients instilled a tear substitute in 1 eye", which doesn't in itself suggest anything about whether the form in question is incorrect.
So can someone be instilled with medication, or is medication always instilled by or into someone?