Catching Errors Unique to Healthcare Content
Catching Errors Unique to Healthcare Content
Every industry has terms specific to it, and it’s no different in health care* where I do much of my work. Below are some edits unique to healthcare content that I’ve made recently or that I see often.
Misspellings:
- opthamology > ophthalmology
- tempterature > temperature
- cryoblation > cryoablation
- gynocology > gynecology
Style preferences:
- anti-rejection > antirejection
- dietician > dietitian
- orthopedics > orthopaedics
- x-ray > X-ray
When you come across the same edits over and over, I recommend starting a list and keeping it close by wherever you do your editing. Use it to do a double-check when you’re doing a final proof on a project.
Even if spell check helped during the initial content creation, wonky things can happen during the design and editing phases of a project, so those final proofreads are crucial.
Happy proofing!
*“Health care” is one of these industry terms that causes questions: Is it one word or two? It depends both on use and preference. Often you’ll see “health care” used as a noun, and “healthcare” as an adjective, as I did above. Moral of the story: Know your organization’s style!
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Check It Out: Writing with Numbers — Helpful Reminders
These four points from Poynter serve as a great reminder when it comes to writing with numbers. While this piece is titled Math for Journalists, it features good tips for anyone in the communications field. Take a look for some easy ways to avoid overloading your audience with too many figures in your writing.
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Something You Might Not Know About Me…
I jumped on the bandwagon and started learning how to play mahjong this past month. I’m enjoying it! Fun fact I learned along the way: The game Rummikub is based off of mahjong.
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What’s Been on My Plate
I’m currently writing about a newborn’s first visit to the pediatrician. It’s bringing back lots of memories when I took my own babies to their first appointment!
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Discussion Questions
What’s up? I’d love to hear from you! Here are some things to consider sharing:
- What is an industry misspelling you’ve seen lately?
- Where do you keep your checklist of often misspelled words?
- Have you ever played mahjong?
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Is there a point when one should feel confident in creative new words that they make up, that they use them in their work or correspondence?
For example I like to refer to people who jammer on as expondicators (one who expondicates). BTW that’s a “portmanteau-adjacent” word if you weren’t aware?
I guess I could read that very popular book a friend gave me called “Reading the OED” to see what advise Ammon Shea gives?
I like your blog… even though I think Mahjong is for old ladies? 🀄🤷♀️
As long as you feel your audience will understand your creative new words, I think you should feel quite confident in using them. “Expondicator” is formed as similar nouns are from verbs, i.e, pontificate > pontificator. So I think most people would understand what you’re inferring.
Glad you like the blog! Maybe instead of mahjong I should try bowling?