Writing Style Guide

abbreviations and acronyms: In general, avoid alphabet soup. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that the reader would not quickly recognize, and do not use abbreviations or acronyms in headings and titles. Do not abbreviate department and specialty names for external audiences. Generally, omit periods in acronyms unless the result would spell an unrelated word.

about Adventist Health (boilerplate): Adventist Health is a faith-based, nonprofit, integrated health system serving more than 100 communities on the West Coast and Hawai’i with over 440 sites of care, including 27 acute care facilities. Founded on Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides care in hospitals, clinics, home care, and hospice agencies in both rural and urban communities. Our compassionate and talented team of more than 38,000 includes employees, physicians, Medical Staff, and volunteers driven in pursuit of one mission: living God's love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. We are committed to staying true to our heritage by providing patient-centered, quality care. Together, we are transforming the healthcare experience with an innovative and whole-person focus on physical, mental, spiritual, and social healing to support community well-being.

academic degrees: Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree, a master's degree, etc., but there is no possessive in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science. Also: an associate degree (no possessive). 

For internal communications, use only MD, DNP, DO, or DPM credentials in line with the person's name and position title: John Smith, MD, Chief Medical Officer. 

While there are no restrictions on the number or type of credentials that can be used in external communications, it is recommended that you use no more than two. Use such abbreviations as MA, MD, and PhD only after a full name. When used after a name, an academic abbreviation is set off by commas: John Snow, PhD, spoke. Do not precede a name with a courtesy title for an academic degree and follow it with the abbreviation for the degree in the same reference. For example, do not do this: Dr. Pam Jones, MD.

Use the following abbreviations without periods (deviation from AP Stylebook) and separated by commas after names:

BSN: Bachelor of Science in Nursing
CNA: Certified Nursing Assistant
CRNA: Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
DMin: Doctor of Ministry
DNP: Doctor of Nursing Practice (To avoid confusion, do not use Dr. with this title.)
DO: Doctor of Osteopathy
DPM: Doctor of Podiatric Medicine
DPT: Doctor of Physical Therapy
FNP-C: Certified Family Nurse Practitioner
FNP: Family Nurse Practitioner
JD: Juris Doctor
LPN: Licensed Practical Nurse
MA: Master of Arts
MBA: Master of Business Administration
MD: Doctor of Medicine
MDiv: Master of Divinity
MS: Master of Science
MSN: Master of Science in Nursing
NP-C: Certified Nurse Practitioner
NP: Nurse Practitioner
PA-C: Certified Physician Assistant
PA: Physician Assistant
PhD: Doctor of Philosophy
PT: Physical Therapist
RN: Registered Nurse

acute care: Medical treatment rendered to individuals whose illnesses or health problems are of a short-term or episodic nature. Acute care facilities are hospitals that mainly serve persons with short-term health problems.4

addresses: Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Spell them out and capitalize when part of a formal street name without a number: Pennsylvania Avenue. Lowercase and spell out when used alone or with more than one street name: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania avenues. All similar words (alley, drive, road, suite, terrace, etc.) are spelled out.  Always use figures for an address number: 9 Morningside Circle.

Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; use figures for 10th and above: 7 Fifth Ave., 100 21st St.

Abbreviate compass points used to indicate directional ends of a street or quadrants of a city in a numbered address: 222 E. 42nd St., 562 W. 43rd St., 600 K St. NW. Do not abbreviate if the number is omitted: East 42nd Street, West 43rd Street, K Street Northwest. Use periods in the abbreviation P.O. for P.O. Box numbers.

Adventist: Adventist is short for Seventh-day Adventist. Do not use Adventist in the place of Adventist Health. Use Adventist instead of Seventh-day Adventist where possible. For clarity, some instances may call for Seventh-day Adventist on first reference and Adventist on subsequent references.

The official church name — Seventh-day Adventist — is always hyphenated with a lowercase d. Use Adventist faith instead of Adventist Church where possible. If an instance calls for the official name of the Adventist faith, use Seventh-day Adventist Church. Use a lowercase c for local congregations, church members, etc.

The phrase Seventh-day reflects the significance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week, as the Sabbath or holy day of rest. The word Adventist reflects the belief that a second coming — or advent — of Jesus is expected.

Adventist Health: Spell out Adventist Health and market names in internal and external copy. The only exceptions are when using approved market abbreviations for internal business purposes or in URLs. Market abbreviations should never be used externally. Do not shorten to Adventist in any use when referring to Adventist Health.

In contracts and other documents requiring a legal name, use Adventist Health System/West, a California nonprofit religious corporation DBA Adventist Health.

Do NOT use Adventist Health System by itself in reference to our organization as that is the former legal name of AdventHealth, based in Florida.

Do NOT use Adventist Health Care in reference to our organization. Adventist HealthCare is the legal name of a Maryland-based organization.

Do NOT use Adventist Health West.

AHPN: Adventist Health Physicians Network.

all right. Never alright. Hyphenate only if used colloquially as a compound modifier: He is an all-right guy.6

aloha: Hawaiian interjection used as a greeting or farewell.11 Additionally, Hawaiian noun meaning love, compassion or sympathy.

ambulatory care: All types of health services that do not require an overnight hospital stay.1

ampersand: Uses in text always require spelling out and. The ampersand should not be used in place of and. Use an ampersand when it is part of a company’s formal name, an event or a composition title: Blessing & Dedication, House & Garden, Procter & Gamble, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway.

ancillary services: Supplementary services. May include laboratory, radiology, physical therapy, and other services provided in conjunction with medical or hospital care.4

apostrophes: Apostrophes are most commonly used in possessives. They’re also used in contractions and other times when letters are deleted. Never use an apostrophe to make a word plural.

attributions with quotes: Use a consistent tense, says or said, throughout any given written communication.

Bible: Capitalize, without quotation marks, when referring to the Scriptures in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Capitalize related terms such as the Gospels, the Scriptures, and the Holy Scriptures. Lowercase biblical in all uses. For citations listing the number of chapter and verse(s) use this form: Matthew 3:16, Luke 21:1 – 13, 1 Peter 2:1. When quoting Bible passages, use English Standard Version. Full list of abbreviations here. Note the use of an en dash ( – ) with spaces in the example above of Luke 21:1 – 13.

Format of Bible texts inline: It says in James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

Black: AP Style now calls for the capitalization of Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black. These changes align with long-standing capitalization of other racial and ethnic identifiers such as Latino, Asian American and Native American. Also, capitalize Indigenous in reference to original inhabitants of a place.6

board of directors: Always lowercase. The Adventist Health board of directors cast the deciding vote.

board-certified: A board-certified physician has special training in a certain area of medicine and has passed an advanced exam in that area of medicine. Both primary care doctors and specialists may be board-certified, along with chaplains, pharmacists and a variety of other healthcare professions.

Blue Zones at Adventist Health: Adventist Health Well-Being in partnership with Blue Zones provides a wholistic and sustainable solution designed to improve associate and community well-being. The purpose statement for Blue Zones is: To empower everyone, everywhere to live better, longer lives. Sometimes used as the tagline, “Live better, longer lives.”

Blue Zones Power 9®: Lifestyle habits of the world's healthiest, longest-lived people.

bulleted lists: Put a space between the bullet and the first word of each item in the list. Capitalize the first word following the bullet. Use periods at the end of each sentence in a bulleted list. Use no punctuation at the end of a single word or single phrase in each section of a list. Do not use semicolons.

Use parallel construction for each item in a list:

  • Start with the same part of speech for each item (in this example, a verb).
  • Use the same voice (active or passive) for each item.
  • Use the same verb tense for each item.
  • Use the same sentence type (statement, question, exclamation) for each item.
  • Use just a phrase for each item, if desired.6

Examples of phrases with no punctuation at the end:

  • Maintenance and repairs
  • Technical oversight
  • Vendor management

Introduce the list with a short phrase or sentence: Responsibilities: or Our responsibilities are:

capitalization:

  • This Heading is in Title Case. Capitalize all words in a title except articles (a, an, the); prepositions of three or fewer letters (for, of, on, up, etc.); and conjunctions of three or fewer letters (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, etc.) unless any of those start or end the title.
    Title case is used for:
    1. Title of a document: NICU Services at Doernbecher, The Economic Impact of Adventist Health, Classes and Events
    2. Headlines in press releases: Adventist Health Cures Cancer Once and for All.
    3. Titles in publications, such as a brochure, poster and newsletter and magazine titles: You and Your Baby at Adventist Health
    4. Lecture titles: The 24-Hour Clock in Human Health, The Promise of Gene Therapy
    5. Webpage titles or website menu items (i.e., “Employee Giving,” “Patients and Visitors,” “Health and Wellness,” “Roseville Campus” etc.)
    6. Chapters or section headings in booklets and long brochures: General Information; Hospital Stay
       
  • This heading is in sentence case. Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
    Sentence case is used for:
    1. Subheads within a document, webpage and publication such as brochure, poster or newsletter: Find a provider, Infants younger than six months
    2. Newsletter article titles
    3. All sentences within body copy, regardless of whether they are online or printed.

capitalization (of departments): In a sentence, capitalize full, formal department names: Legal Services. If using the word department following the use of the formal name, capitalize it: Legal Services Department. Do not capitalize shortened or informal titles: legal. When listing departments and informal group names, official department names should appear first: We partnered with Total Rewards, Legal Services, and clinical workforce.

capitalization (of committees): Capitalize when a committee has a proper name: The Adventist Health Retirement Committee met in May. In the second reference, do not capitalize shortened versions of long committee names: He was honored to join the retirement committee. Use lower-case for short-term workgroups or taskforces.

capitalization (of medical conditions): Do not capitalize the names of medical conditions unless bearing a proper name such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Down syndrome or an acronym such as COVID-19.

capitalization (of medical specialties): Do not capitalize the names of medical specialties unless used as an abbreviation, such as OB/GYN.

capitalization (of titles): In a deviation from AP style, formal job titles are capitalized when they appear before or after a person's name. Jane Doe, President, shared a statement on Friday.

caregiver, caretaker: A caregiver is a person who takes care of someone requiring close attention, such as a person with serious illnesses or age-related concerns. Generally, use that term, rather than caretaker, in situations involving people receiving care.6

chronic care: Care and treatment of individuals whose health problems are of a long-term and continuing nature.4

commas in a series: Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in most simple series: Our mission is to live God's love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope.

Include a final comma in a simple series if omitting it could make the meaning unclear: In the fourth quarter, the team will focus on employee engagement, patient experience, and clinical quality and safety. 

Use a comma also before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases: The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude.6

complex care: Care and treatment of individuals with multiple chronic medical conditions often combined with behavioral health conditions and/or poor social determinants of health.

corporate: Use only when referring to Adventist Health headquarters located in Roseville, Calif.

COVID-19: The shortened form COVID is acceptable if necessary for space in headlines, and in direct quotations and proper names.

CT scan.

dashes/hyphens: Take care to use an em dash — not a hyphen — when you’re setting off a phrase. Include a space before and after an em dash. If your keyboard doesn’t have an em dash, insert one from the Symbols menu in Word, or use the shortcut Alt + 0151 on a PC, or Option + Shift + hyphen (-) on an Apple.

  • Phone listings: Use figures and hyphens, not parentheses or periods: 212-621-1500. 911 is used without dashes.
  • An em dash ( — ) with a space on either side is used to indicate an abrupt change in thought or an emphatic pause in a sentence.
  • Add a space when using an en dash ( – ) between ranges of dates, times and numerals (Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., 45 – 65). 
  • A hyphen (-) is a word joiner. Use it to avoid ambiguity or to form a single idea from two or more words. Use hyphens for compound adjectives, but do not use in verb phrases. A follow-up email has been sent. Please follow up with him by Monday. Do not use between adverbs ending in – ly and adjectives they modify, such as a fully informed voter.
  • Where a hyphen is used as a word joiner in a proper noun or title, capitalize both words: The Star-Spangled Banner.

Think of hyphens as an aid to readers’ comprehension. If a hyphen makes the meaning clearer, use it. If it just adds clutter and distraction to the sentence, don’t use it.

If the sheer number of hyphens in a phrase or confusion about how to use them could daunt either the writer or the reader, try rephrasing.

datelines (press releases): Datelines on press releases should contain a date and a place name entirely in capital letters, followed in most cases by the name of the state, country or territory where the city is located. Example: Jan. 9, 2022 (HANFORD, Calif.) —

Domestic cities that stand alone in datelines include HONOLULU and LOS ANGELES. If they do require a state, it’s important to use the correct AP Style state abbreviation: PORTLAND, Ore. For a full list of state abbreviations, refer to AP Stylebook.

dates: In body copy, abbreviate the months Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. when they appear with a specific date (example: Jan. 23). When specifying dates, do not use -st, -nd, -rd or -th (examples: Jan. 1st, Sept. 11th). Surround years by commas when they appear with a specific date (example: On March 11, 2020, the worldwide pandemic officially began). No commas are necessary when specifying a month with a year (example: May 2021).

daylight saving time: Not daylight savings time. No hyphen. When linking the term with the name of a time zone, use only the word daylight: Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). A federal law specifies that daylight time applies from 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March until 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November in areas that do not specifically exempt themselves.6 The remainder of the year, use Pacific Standard Time (PST).

days of the week: Do not abbreviate.

diabetes: There are two main forms: Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, and Type 2 diabetes, the most common kind, formerly called adult-onset diabetes. Capitalize Type.

directions and regions: Lowercase north, south, east and west. Capitalize if referencing a particular region (Northern California, the Southwest, the West Coast, Windward Oahu). Generally, lowercase with states, cities and nations with the exception of Northern California and Southern California (southern France, western Oregon). To get to Adventist Health Howard Memorial, drive north and then head west to the coast. Adventist Health is located on the West Coast.

diseases and medical conditions: Do not capitalize diseases and medical conditions such as cancer, emphysema, leukemia, hepatitis, influenza, flu, respiratory syncytial virus. When a disease is known by the name of a person or geographical area identified with it, capitalize only the proper noun: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Ebola virus disease.6

doctor, physician, advanced practice provider: The state of California restricts the use of “doctor” or “Dr.” to a physician or surgeon, and, to be consistent across Adventist Health, we will maintain that approach outside of California. Never use both Dr. and a medical degree with a name. First reference, use MD, for example Arby Nahapetian, MD. Second reference, use “Dr.,” for example, Dr. Arby Nahapetian. We do not refer to DNPs or other clinicians with a doctorate as “doctor” or “Dr.” This is an exception to AP style.

Doctors’ Day: Not Doctor's Day or Doctors Day.

Down syndrome: Not Down's syndrome.

EBIDA: Earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortization. This term is specific to nonprofit institutions such as Adventist Health (does not include “t” for taxes).

Ellen White: Ellen White is one of the founders of the Adventist faith. Use founder, co-founder or thought leader to describe her. Do not use prophet or prophetess.

email: No hyphen. Use a hyphen in all e- words except email and esports: e-book, e-reader, e-commerce.6 When writing for printed communications, do not underline email addresses and URLs.

emergency department: Not emergency room. ER acceptable preceding titles, i.e., ER nurse. Similarly, ICU is acceptable on second reference for an intensive care unit. If ICU is used on first reference, give the full term quickly thereafter.

employee: The term employee refers to anyone who receives a paycheck directly from Adventist Health. Employee is a term that carries legal rights for and requirements of those who claim it. The term associates is inclusive of those who provide services at or through Adventist Health, including employees, volunteers, medical staff, security personnel and other contracted workers.

epidemic (n., adj.), pandemic (n., adj.), endemic (adj.): An epidemic is the rapid spreading of disease in a certain population or region; a pandemic is an epidemic that has spread wider, usually to multiple countries or continents, affecting a large number of people. Follow declarations of public health officials in terminology. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Do not write global pandemic; the adjective is unnecessary as this pandemic is widely known to be global. Endemic as an adjective refers to the constant presence of a disease. For example, malaria is endemic in some tropical regions. COVID-19 is still considered a pandemic.6

events: Titles of special events are capitalized and enclosed in quotes.6

executives: Click here for a list of Adventist Health's Executive Cabinet members.

first responders: Acceptable in general references to police, fire, medical, hazmat or other professionals who respond to emergencies. If necessary, EMT may be used in all references and EMS may be used in second and subsequent references. Paramedics undergo advanced training and may be EMTs, but not all EMTs are paramedics.6

fiscal year: A fiscal year is a one-year period used for financial reporting and budgeting. Adventist Health’s fiscal year follows the calendar year.

flier, flyer: Flyer is the preferred term for a person flying in an aircraft and for handbills: He used his frequent flyer miles. They put up flyers announcing the show.

front line(s) (n.) front-line (adj.).6

hand-washing.6

healthcare: One word in nearly all internal and external uses (deviation from AP Stylebook). Change to two words in external news releases to all media except Beckers.

HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) contains federal regulations intended to increase privacy and security of patient information during electronic transmission or communication of protected health information (PHI) among providers or between providers and payers or other entities.5

HMO: Health maintenance organization. Also, managed care or coordinated health plan. A type of health insurance plan that usually limits coverage to care from doctors who work for or contract with the HMO.2

homeless: Avoid the dehumanizing collective noun the homeless, instead using constructions like unhoused people, people without housing, or people without homes.

hospice: Program providing palliative care, chiefly medical relief of pain and supportive services, addressing the emotional, social, financial and legal needs of terminally ill patients and their families. This care can be provided in a variety of settings, both inpatient and at home.3

hui: Hawaiian term meaning partnership, syndicate, club, association, community gathering or assembly.11

Human Resources: Change from Human Performance in 2022.

injuries: They may be suffered, sustained or received. Often, simpler wording is possible: She was injured in the crash, rather than she sustained injuries in the crash.6

inpatient visit: Visit by a patient during which the patient is admitted at least overnight to a hospital or other health facility.

institute: Naming a service line institute implies that the service conducts research. Do not use the term institute in a service line name unless it conducts research.

it's/its: It’s is a contraction for it is. It’s raining today. Its is a possessive pronoun. The umbrella is in its case.

Jesus: Use Jesus instead of Christ. While Jesus and Christ are often used interchangeably to refer to God’s Son, Jesus is his name, while Christ is a title meaning anointed one. Jesus is generally more accessible, personal and inclusive. Use God when possible and not pronouns. If pronouns are used in reference to God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, always lowercase.

The Joint Commission: Use The Joint Commission in place of its former designation as The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

kahakō: The Hawaiian language uses two diacritical markings. The kahakō is a macron, which lengthens and adds stress to the marked vowel.10

kōkua: Hawaiian term meaning help. 

locations: Click here for a list of Adventist Health locations.

lock down (v.), lockdown (n., adj.). Also, shut down (v.), shutdown (n.).6

long-term care: Package of services provided to those who are aged, chronically ill or disabled. Services are delivered for a sustained period to individuals who have a demonstrated need, usually measured by functional dependency.3

mahalo: Hawaiian interjection indicating thanks or gratitude.

managed care: Includes Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), Competitive Medical Plans (CMP), and other plans that provide health services on a prepayment basis, which is based either on cost or risk, depending on the type of contract they have with Medicare.1

Medical-Surgical Department: Avoid abbreviating to Med-Surg. Avoid using Medical-Surgical in external copy. Use nursing department or inpatient nursing instead.

Minimally invasive: Do not hyphenate. The procedure is minimally invasive.

months: When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone. When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not separate the year with commas. When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas.6

mpox: Change from monkeypox in November 2022.

names: Use last names only on second references in media releases and other external communications. Use first names as second reference on internal social media and intranet pages and other internal communications.

networks and service areas: When naming an Adventist Health network or service area, follow these examples:

  • Adventist Health Northern California Network
  • Adventist Health North Coast Service Area
  • Adventist Health Central California Network
  • Adventist Health Central Coast Service Area
  • Adventist Health Southern California Network
  • Adventist Health Glendale & Simi Valley Service Area
  • Adventist Health Hawai’i Service Area
  • Adventist Health Oregon Service Area

nonprofit. Not non-profit.

No Surprises Act: The No Surprises Act protects people covered under group and individual health plans from receiving surprise medical bills when they receive most emergency services, non-emergency services from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, and services from out-of-network air ambulance service providers. It also establishes an independent dispute resolution process for payment disputes between plans and providers, and provides new dispute resolution opportunities for uninsured and self-pay individuals when they receive a medical bill that is substantially greater than the good faith estimate they get from the provider.1

numerals: Spell out one through nine and use Arabic numerals beginning with 10, except when referencing age (see below). Also, spell out first through ninth, unless the sequence has been assigned as a proper name, e.g., 1st Annual Week of Prayer.

Sally has worked for Adventist Health for 10 years but in this department for seven.

First, we’ll attend the pancake feed and then the 2nd Annual Race for the Cure.

Use numerals for dimensions or distances.

She walked 3 miles uphill in 6 inches of snow when she was a girl.

The rug is 9 feet by 12 feet.

The 9-inch snowfall arrived on Christmas morning on our 24-acre lot.

Use figures for 10 or above and whenever preceding a unit of measure or referring to ages of people, animals, events or things; and in all tabular matter and statistical and sequential forms. The law is 8 years old; the 101-year-old house.

Some exceptions to the below-10 rule: Ages, millions and billions (except casual uses), percentages and currency: My 8-year-old daughter just inherited $3 million from her aunt. A week ago she had about 5 cents to her name. I asked her to lend me a thousand at 6%, and she said she’d think about it. At the start of a sentence: Forty days was a long time to wait. Fifteen to 20 cars were involved in the accident. The only exception is years: 1992 was a very good year.

24/7. Not 24-7. For the shorthand of the expression, "24 hours a day, seven days a week," use backslash (AP Style).

‘ohana: Hawaiian term meaning family.

OK: Not okay or O.K.

ʻokina: Hawaiʻi, not Hawaii. Oʻahu, not Oahu. The ʻokina represents a pause in speech and is typographically represented as a reversed apostrophe. Adventist Health accepts an apostrophe in the place of an ʻokina, due to the lack of the symbol on most keyboards.

onboarding, orientation: Onboarding refers to employment preparation that takes place between an employee's offer date and start date. Orientation references any role-specific training and ongoing development that takes place on and following an employee's start date.

ONE Channel: Use all caps for ONE and capitalize Channel.

open-heart surgery: Hyphenate. The doctor recommended open-heart surgery.

on-site. Also off-site.

orthopaedic, orthopedic: Use orthopedic or orthopedics for consumer understanding. Add the a as in orthopaedic or orthopaedics in formal names such as the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.

outpatient visit: Visit by a patient not lodged in the hospital while receiving medical services.3

palliative care: A type of care used to relieve the pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness, with a goal to improve quality of life for patients and their families.

Parkinson's disease: Not Parkinsons disease.

patient navigator: Patient navigators are staff members who guide patients through the healthcare system and help them overcome barriers that prevent them from getting the care they need. (Source: CDC)

payer: Also payor. An entity that assumes the risk of paying for medical treatments.1

PCP: Primary care provider. Primary care providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants who provide health services covering prevention, wellness and treatment for common illnesses.2

people: Not persons.

percent, percentage, percentage points: Use the % sign when paired with a numeral, with no space; in most cases: The engagement survey reached 73% participation. In casual uses, use words rather than figures and numbers: She said he has a zero percent chance of winning.

For a range, 12% to 15%, 12% – 15% (note use of em dash with spacing), and between 12% and 15% are all acceptable.

Be careful not to confuse percent with percentage point. A change from 10% to 13% is a rise of 3 percentage points. This is not equal to a 3% change; rather, it's a 30% increase.

When working with percentages, round to the nearest tenth in most cases, unless an exact figure is critical. For example, instead of 4.3%, round to 4.5%, and instead of 4.2% round to 4%.

percentile: A number that corresponds to one of the equal divisions of the range of a variable in a given sample and that characterizes a value of the variable as not exceeded by a specified percentage of all the values in the sample. For example, a score higher that 97 percent of those attained is said to be in the 97th percentile.1

PHI: Protected health information. The HIPAA Privacy Rule provides federal protections for personal health information held by covered entities and gives patients an array of rights with respect to that information. At the same time, the Privacy Rule is balanced so that it permits the disclosure of personal health information needed for patient care and other important purposes.7

post-acute care: A range of medical care services that support an individual’s continued recovery from illness or management of a chronic illness or disability. These include home health, hospice, rehabilitation and therapy services, long-term-care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and subacute care.

prefixes (pre-, re-, mid-, co-): Generally, do not hyphenate when using a prefix with a word that starts with a consonant: preflight, reset, midyear, coworker. For exceptions, see individual entries in the AP Stylebook and Webster’s New World College Dictionary. For the prefix post-, hyphenate in most cases.

Three rules are constant:

  • Use a hyphen if the prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel. Exceptions: cooperate, coordinate, and double-e combinations (new in 2019) such as preestablish, preeminent, preeclampsia, preempt.
  • Use a hyphen if the word that follows is capitalized.
  • Use a hyphen to join doubled prefixes: sub-subparagraph.6

pre-pandemic.

preventive. Preferred over preventative.6

primary care: A basic level of healthcare usually given by doctors who work with general and family medicine, internal medicine (internists), pregnant women (obstetricians) and children (pediatricians). A nurse practitioner, a state-licensed registered nurse with special training, can also provide this basic level of healthcare.1

provider: A person who is trained and licensed to give healthcare. Also, a place that is licensed to give healthcare. Doctors, nurses and hospitals are examples of providers.1

quotation marks: Punctuation generally goes inside the quotation marks. “What are you saying?” I asked. An exception is when a question mark inside the quotes would change the meaning or is not part of a title: Do you want to see “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”?

When giving directions, use quotation marks on either side of the tab or button you refer to. Select “HR Contact Center” from the dropdown menu. Capitalize the tab or button text to match how it appears on screen.

reopen.6

Sabbath: Always capitalized.

Seventh-day Adventist: Not Seventh-Day Adventist and not SDA.

skilled nursing care: A level of care that includes services that can only be performed safely and correctly by a licensed nurse, either a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse.1

state names: The names of the 50 U.S. states should be spelled out when used in the body of a story, whether standing alone or in conjunction with a city, town, village or military base. Use state abbreviations in conjunction with the name of a city, town, village or military base in datelines, lists, tabular material, credit lines and short-form listings of party affiliation (D-Ore.). For a full list of state abbreviations, refer to AP Stylebook.

subheadings: Use sentence case. Only the first word and proper nouns start with a capital letter. Subheadings can be slightly longer than headings if needed, but shorter is better. Think of them as headlines rather than complete sentences.

SyncTALK: An emotional health benefit offered by Adventist Health through Synchronous Health.

telecommute/teleconference. One word.6

telemedicine/telehealth: The use of videoconferencing and specially adapted diagnostic tools to allow providers to care for patients located in distant locations. While telemedicine/telehealth refers to long-distance patient care, virtual care is a much broader term that refers to a variety of digital tools that patients and caregivers use to communicate.

telephone numbers: Use figures and hyphens, not parentheses or periods: 212-621-1500. 911 is used without dashes.

therapy animals: Therapy animals or emotional support animals are sometimes used to help people with depression, anxiety or other conditions. They are not considered service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

times: Use figures except for noon and midnight. Refer to the following constructions: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 9 – 11 a.m. (note use of en dash with spacing), 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Avoid such redundancies as 10 a.m. this morning, 10 p.m. tonight or 12 noon. In designed pieces, acceptable to use the constructions AM and PM (deviation from AP Stylebook).

titles (professional): Capitalize professional titles. For example: President, Chief Medical Officer, Director of Nursing, Emergency Department Manager (deviation from AP Stylebook). Follow AP Style for news releases.

titles (works): Capitalize and enclose in quotes the names of books, poems, plays, films and songs. Capitalize without quotes books that are primarily references, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and almanacs. Titles of special events are capitalized and enclosed in quotes.

Together inspired: Always capitalize the T but not the I: Together inspired. When used as a hashtag, the same capitalization rules apply: #Togetherinspired

top-decile: Performance at or above the 90th percentile. Top-quartile is performance at or above the 75th percentile.

trauma: Avoid the vague jargon trauma when it is possible to use more specific words like injury, wound, bruise or shock. Acceptable in medical diagnoses such as traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder, and in references to emotional injury.6

tridemic: A collision of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), flu and COVID-19 to the extent that it overwhelms the healthcare system.

use (v.): Always preferred over utilize. It means the same thing and is shorter.

vaccine: A vaccine is a product that stimulates the body’s immune system to make antibodies and provide immunity against a specific virus or other germ. Vaccination is the act of giving a vaccine.

value-based care (VBC): Lowercase letters. This is a term that Medicare and healthcare professionals use to describe care that is coordinated and includes primary care, specialty care and other health providers working together to manage an individual's overall health, while also considering their personal health goals.

videoconference.

voicemail.

Washington: Use state of Washington within a story when it's necessary to differentiate the state name from the U.S. capital, Washington.6

website, webpage: Website refers to a location on the internet that maintains one or more pages at a specific address. When listing a website in digital material, use a hyperlink whenever possible. If you need to spell out a site, omit the http:// and the www. and use camel case (AdventistHealth.org).

well-being: Hyphenate (deviation from AP Stylebook).

-wide: No hyphen. For example: statewide, nationwide, worldwide, systemwide, companywide

workgroup. One word. Deviation from AP Stylebook.

WPV: Workplace violence (industry acronym).

X-ray.

year: There’s no need to mention the year with a date for internal announcements of an upcoming event unless confusion may otherwise occur. In a May announcement regarding a June event, you may assume the current year is understood.

year-over-year: Year-over-year (YOY) is a method of evaluating two or more measured events to compare the results at one period with those of a comparable period on an annualized basis. For example, in the first quarter of 2021, the Coca-Cola corporation reported a 5% increase in net revenues over the first quarter of the previous year. 9

year-to-date: Year-to-date (YTD) refers to the period of time beginning the first day of the current calendar year or fiscal year up to the current date. YTD information is useful for analyzing business trends over time or comparing performance data to competitors or peers in the same industry.9

YouTube.

Zika virus.

ZIP code: Use all-caps ZIP for Zone Improvement Plan, but always lowercase code.

1Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

2Source: HealthCare.gov

3Source: American Hospital Association

4Source: United States Department of Labor

5Source: American Academy of Family Physicians

6Source: AP Stylebook

7Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

8Source: ESV.org

9Source: investopedia.com

10Source: University of Hawaii

11Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary