Office communications
Collect on Delivery
(COD) the U.S postal service delivery service that collects postal and other fees from the receipent when the postal material is delivered
noise
Anything that interferes with, distorts, or slows down the transmission of information
first draft
Is the first complete keying manuscript
Express mail
service offered by the U.S Postal service that provides next day delivery of items
first-class mail
Mail type weighing 13 oz or less, includes all correspondence, whether handwritten or typewritten; sealed against postal inspection
telephone etiquette
Set of skills and attitudes used when answering the phone that allows the assistant to sound alert, interested, and concerned.
screening calls
The practice of evaluating calls to decide on appropriate appointment action.
double-booking appointments
The practice used, when the schedule is full, of entering overflow patient appointments in a second column beside regular appointments; in some cases, triple columns are used.
Signature Confirmation of delivery
US Postal service delivery service that provides the date, ZIP, time of delivery, and signatureof the person who accepted the delivery
POSTNET
a bar code interpretation of the ZIP code or the ZIP+4 consisting of a series of long and short vertical lines which is placed on the lower portion of the mailing address
urgent
a medical injury or illness that needs prompt medical attention within a 24 hour time period
emergency
a medical status in which the delay of care of a serious injury or illness would threaten the patient's life or body part
open/fixed office hours
a method of seeing patients during hours when the phsician is available and no appointment is made
cluster scheduling
a method that brings several patients in at the same time, such as on the hour, to be seen by the provider
established patient (EP)
a patient who has seen the provider or someone in the practice within the past 3 years
no shows
a patient who, without notifying the physician's office, fails to show up for an appointment
new patient (np)
a person who has not been in the past 3 years or has never been to see that physician
return receipt
a piece of paper provided by the US postal service to give the sender proof of delivery
Certificate of Mailing
a receipt purchased at the time of mailing that documents the date the material was presented for mailing the U.S postal service
Priority mail
a service offered by the U.S postal service two-day delivery service within most domestic destinations
Certified Mail
a service offered by the U.S postal service whereby the postal Service keeps a record of delivery and the sender recieves a mailing receipt
ZIP
abbreviation for Zone Improvement Plan
ZIP+4
and extention of the postal ZIP system that adds an addtional 4 codes
block-style letter
arrangement of a letter so that all lines, including those beginning new paragraphs, begin at the left margin
insured mail
articles sent through the US postal service or other carrier that are covered against loss or damage through the purchase or provision of insurance
annotate
provide interlinear explanations for words or phrases
Media mail
rate used by the Postal Service for the mailing of books, videotapes, loose leaf pages, and binders, also called "book rate".
proofreading
carefully reading a document to detect errors
Restricted delivery
direct delivery through the US postal service; item delivered only to the addressee or addressee's authorized agent
endnotes
references that the author may have used as background or relevent information, placed on a seperate page following the text of the manuscript
optical character reader (OCR)
equipment used to scan materials for data, such as a ZIP code
wave scheduling
fixed office hours combined with scheduled office appointments for a specific number of patients
registered mail
items sent through the US postal service where a delivery record is maintained at the mailing post office; receipt is given to the sender at the time of mailing
Parcel post
mail for items 70 punds or less and no more than 130 inches in length and girth
open punctuation
no punctuation used outside the body of a letter unless the line ends with an abbreviation
footnote
notes, usually at the bottom of the page, used to cite sources of information or quotation used in the text
Delivery Confirmation
the U.S postal service delivery service that provides the date and time of delievery or attempted delivrery
modified-block-style letter
the arrangement of a letter where by the date line, complementary closing, and signature all begin at the center of the page and all other lines begin at the left margin
editing
the assessment of a document to determine its clarity, consistency, and overall effectiveness
channel
the chosen method for transmitting the message
Bound Printed Matter
the classification of of mail used for any material permanently bound by materials such as glu, staples, or spiral binding
triage
the determination of how soon a patient needs to be seen by the physician based on whether the patient's condition requires immediate attetnion
title page
the first manuscript page, which contains the title of the manuscript and the authors name, degree and/or title, and affilitation
message
the ideas to communicate
standard punctuation
the placing of a colon after the salutation of a letter and the placing of a comma after the complimentary closing
cheif complaint (cc)
the reason for the patient's visit to seek the physician's advice
decoding
the receiver's application of meaning to the transmitted message
feedback
the reciever's responses, helps the sender determine is successful communication has occured
bibliography
the written list of all the sources used in a report or book
encoding
using words and gestures to convey a message