Capitalization

   MT Reference Style Guide  >  Medical Transcription Grammar, Usage and Style  >  Capitalization

• 1 Basic rules of capitalization
• 2 Capitalizing personal names
• 3 Capitalizing family titles
• 4 Capitalizing parenthetical expressions
• 5 Capitalizing titles with personal names
• 6 Capitalizing titles of publications and articles
• 7 Capitalizing credentials
• 8 Capitalization of acronyms
• 9 Capitalizing academic degrees and references
• 10 Capitalizing legal references
• 11 Capitalizing eponyms
• 12 Capitalizing departments, divisions and specialties
• 13 Capitalizing drug names
• 14 Capitalizing names of organisms (genus and species)
• 15 Capitalizing geographic names
• 16 Capitalizing sociocultural designations
• 17 Capitalizing events, awards and legislation
• 18 Capitalizing computer and software terms
• 19 Capitalizing times, seasons, holidays and deities
• 20 Capitalizing referenced report headings
• 21 Capitalizing hyphenated compounds
• 22 Capitalizing brief forms

In most cases of capitalization, only the first letter of a word is capitalized. Proper nouns are always capitalized, regardless of where they fall in a sentence or the punctuation that precedes them.

The dog rolled over.
The dog, Rover, rolled over.
The patient will be placed on the following treatment protocol: Tamoxifen and carboplatin. 

All caps are when the caps-lock key is utilized and the entire word, phrase or sentence typed in capital letters. This may be appropriate for paragraph titles (different facilities will specify the format), but is not considered appropriate for large segments of a report or communication.

PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: The patient's physical examination is normal.
PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: THE PHYSICAL EXAMINATION COULD NOT BE OBTAINED.

In title case, the first letter in a series of words is capitalized. It's called title case because book titles are typically written this way. Depending on account specifications, it may be used for paragraph or report titles.

He is the author of "Connecting the Bones Throughout the Body."
Standardized Units in Medical Transcription Billing.

When too many words are capitalized, none stand out. The current trend is to use capitalization more sparingly.

In internet communications, all caps is considered equivalent to shouting.

Names of organizations

Capitalize the names of companies, unions, associations, societies, independent committees and boards, schools, political parties, conventions, foundations, fraternities, sororities, clubs, religious bodies and teams.

Daimler-Chrysler
Sigma Chi Fraternity
American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons
the National Institute of Health

Try to follow the style established by the organization itself.

Names of government bodies

Capitalize the names of countries and international organizations, as well as national, state, county and city bodies and their subdivisions.

the Kennedy Administration
the United Nations
Department of Veterans Affairs

EXCEPTION: federal government, NOT Federal Government

Capitalize short forms of names of national and international bodies and their major divisions.

the House (referring to the House of Representatives)

Common terms such as police department, board of education, county court are not capitalized unless they refer to a specific body.

The patient states he works at the police department.
The patient states he works at the Clark County Police Department.

Programs, movements or concepts

Do not capitalize the name of programs, movements or concepts when they're used as a general reference and not as part of a proper name.

The White House issued a statement on the economic recovery.
The Anesthesia Department will send a technician as soon as one is available.
The Operating Room recovered the lost inventory.