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