Sutter Health Style Guidelines
Update 9-28-11 Joelle Junior
Impacted
Impacted Sutter
Sutter codes
codes are:
are:
6080M
6081M
6080M
10071M
6081M
10107M
6083M
6083M
10190M
6086M
6086M
10657M
6084M
6084M
6085M
6085M
6088M
6088M
6090M
6090M
10071M
10107M
10190M
GENERAL
This style guide addresses common issues in health care writing and reflects the consensus of Sutter Health’s Communications
and Marketing Department. Rules are based primarily on standards in the AP Stylebook and the American Heritage Dictionary.
Where not specified, follow AP style guide.
* Abbreviate months with dates: Oct. 1
* Style for names under pull quotes: —Bob Jones
* Do not refer to Sutter Health as Corporate
* Use “Sutter Health” unless space is tight, then “Sutter” is OK
* Do not mention retail stores by name as readers may infer Sutter Health is recommending/endorsing them.
*Quotes in text:
-Use “of” not “at”: example, “…says Jane Doe, M.D., of Sutter Delta Medical Group”
-Use “says” not “said”
-First reference, use M.D.: example, “Blah Blah,” says Jane Doe, M.D., of Sutter Delta Medical Group.
-Subsequent reference, use Dr. instead of M.D.: example, “Blah Blah,” says Dr. Doe.
-Patient quotes, okay to use first name in attribution, rather than last name, e.g., “Blah blah,” says Heather.
*URLs:
-CTA Style: bold and italicize websites; bold phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Websites and phone numbers
will shift color in an article with body copy that is bold.
-Masthead and folios: websites remain Roman
-Within an article, Websites should be bold and italic
-Do not include “www.” for any URL, unless it is needed in order for the URL to function
-Website for any CTAs directing readers to Sutter website: sutterhealth.org/yourhealth
-Other Sutter websites:
- MyLifeStages.org (special font treatment throughout pub; “My” is always in italics, rest of text is not)
- MyHealthRecord (does not get the special font treatment that MLS gets in pub)
- thedoctorforyou.com (bold “doctor” and “you”)
- facebook.com/sutterhealth (Facebook capitalized in text, but not URL)
- youtube.com/sutterhealth (YouTube capitalized in text, but not URL)
- twitter.com/sutterhealth (Twitter capitalized in text, but not URL)
-sutterhealth.org/iTriage („T‟ is capitalized in iTriage)
Words and Phrases:
academic degrees – Use an apostrophe in bachelor‟s degree,
a master‟s degree, etc. Use abbreviations as B.A., M.A.,
and Ph.D.
addresses – Abbreviate Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a
numbered address. Spell out and capitalize when part of a
formal street name without a number.
affect or effect – Affect, as a verb, means to influence.
Affect, as a noun, is best avoided. Effect, as a verb, means
to cause. Effect, as a noun, means result.
BlackBerry
a.m., p.m. – Lowercase, with periods. If two times fall within
the same time period, only one reference to a.m. or p.m. is
necessary. (e.g., We will hold the meeting from 8 to 11
a.m. We will hold the meeting from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
Avoid redundancies such as 12 noon.
Band-Aid
board-certified – only include hyphen when used as an
adjective (e.g., board-certified pediatrician)
breast-feed (breast-feeding, breast-fed, etc.) – hyphenate per
AP style and the American Heritage dictionary
Callouts and captions - use a doctor's name and degree,
rather than the title Dr. (John Smith, M.D., vs. Dr. John
Smith).
CalPERS – California Public Employees Retirement System
caregivers – Use when referring to family members who take
care of elderly or disabled relatives. Use “providers” when
referring to trained medical professionals, like doctors and
nurses. Use “doctors” rather than “providers” when
appropriate.
cellphone – per AP style
century – Lowercase if not part of a proper name. Capitalize
if a proper name. (e.g., 20th Century Fox)
joint replacement – not hyphenated unless used as a
compound adjective for another noun, like "surgery" or
"patient." Examples: She had total joint-replacement
surgery. She had a joint replacement. Note: Same is true if
"knee" or "hip" is used instead of "joint."
leading – Use hyphen in second-leading cause of death.
Medi-Cal
Medicaid
Medicare
Mills-Peninsula Health Services – Always use the hyphen.
mindset – no hyphen
Multispecialty – one word
MyChart – Sutter Health app for the iPhone, iPad or iPod
touch
My Health Online - three separate words, no italics, no
trademark symbol
Northern California
non-urgent – use hyphen
not-for-profit/ not for profit – Preferable to non-profit. Use
not-for-profit if an adjective; not for profit is used otherwise.
(e.g., Sutter Health is a not-for-profit health care organization.
The organization is not for profit.)
nurse midwife / certified nurse midwife (no hyphens)
on-site/on site – Use on-site if an adjective; on site if used
otherwise. (e.g., It is an on-site service. He is on site.)
CEO – Don‟t use periods after letters. Always use uppercase
abbreviation – before or after name.
ophthalmology
co-worker – Hyphenate “co-worker”
orthopedic vs. orthopaedic – Use orthopedic unless referring
eICU® – eICU® is a registered trademark. Use of the name
should include the ® registration mark, which must be
displayed in all headlines, all captions and on first
reference in the body copy. Each document should also
include the proper trademark signature line: eICU® is a
registered trademark of VISICU, Inc. Also, eICU refers to
the actual unit. All other references should be more
specific. (e.g., eICU program, eICU service, eICU team,
etc.) Note that the full term – electronic intensive care unit
– is not registered.
to a proper noun, such as a facility name, that uses
orthopaedic.
PacifiCare
payer – Always use “payer.” According to American Heritage
and Webster, payor is not a word.
percent – Use figures and spell out percent. (e.g., 1 percent, 15
percent, 100 percent.)
persons – Use chairperson or spokesperson.
email – per AP style
Picture Archival Communications System (PACS)
e-Messaging – capitalize the „M‟
providers – Use when referring to trained medical
eMAPSM – Electronic Medication Administration Program is
officially registered with the State of California as a Sutter
Health service mark. Use of the name should include the
service mark symbol, which must be displayed on first
reference in the copy.
for-profit
fundraising, fundraiser [now follows AP; one word]
health care – Health care is always two words unless used as
a proper noun. (e.g., Omni Healthcare)
Internet – Always capitalize.
intranet – Do not capitalize unless part of a proper name.
professionals, like doctors and nurses. Use “doctors” rather
than “providers” when appropriate. Use “caregivers” when
referring to family members who take care of elderly or
disabled relatives.
“risk for” – Use “for” before a noun (e.g., your risk for
hypertension)
“risk of” – Use “of” before a gerund (e.g., your risk of
developing)
seasons – Lowercase unless part of a title. (e.g., the Winter Wine
and Cheese Jubilee)
smartphone – per AP style
systemwide – Whenever wide falls at the end of a word, there
should be no hyphen.
that or which – That and which are not interchangeable.
Which phrases add non-essential information and are set off
by commas. That introduces an essential clause, meaning it
cannot be deleted without the sentence losing its essential
meaning.
X-ray – Always capitalize the X.
website – One word and no cap, per 4/2010 AP Style change.
who or whom – Use who when someone is the subject of a
sentence, clause or phrase. Use whom when someone is the
object of a preposition.
Abbreviations:
 two letters degree abbreviation – M.D., R.N., P.T., etc.
Use periods between degree abbreviations of two letters.
(including Ph.D.)
 three letters or more degree abbreviations – MPH,
MBA, LCSW, MFCC. Do not use periods between degree
abbreviations that are three or more letters long.
 U.S. vs. United States – Use abbreviation when it‟s an
adjective (e.g., U.S. unemployment rate), but spell out as
a noun (e.g., unemployment rate in the United States.)
Capitalization:
 regions – lower case “region” in Sutter Health region
names (e.g., Sutter Health Central Valley region), except
in headlines and footers at the bottom of the page (e.g.,
Sutter Health Central Valley Region)
 departments and services – Capitalize department names.
(e.g., Billing Department) Do not capitalize services or
units. (e.g., intensive care unit or pediatric services)
 nouns and capitalization – Do not capitalize words such
as center and state if they are not part of the proper name.
(e.g., Staff at the Center for Healthy Living offer good
advice. Staff at the center offer good advice.)
 titles for people and capitalization – Capitalize titles only
when they precede a name. Do not capitalize titles when
following a name unless the title is CEO, since this
acronym is rarely spelled out. (e.g., This is Chief Medical
Officer John Smith, M.D. This is John Smith, M.D., chief
medical officer.)
 article titles (heads) – Use AP style for prepositions
and conjunctions. Capitalize if four letters or more.
Numbers:
 Spell out whole numbers below 10, and use figures for
numbers 10 and above.
 Spell our first through ninth when they indicate sequence
in time or location. Note: Use 1st, 2nd and 3rd . . . when the
sequence has been assigned in forming names.
Italics:
 titles for publications/compositions – Italicize names of
newspapers, magazines, books, plays, TV programs,
operas, movies, poems, songs, programs, lectures,
speeches and works of art. “I used the Sutter Health
Publication Style Guide when I prepared the newsletter.”
Parentheses:
 Use sparingly. They are jarring to the reader. The temptation
to use them is a clue that a sentence is becoming contorted.
 Don‟t use parentheses with area codes, use dashes . (e.g. 916987-1234). Keeps 800 numbers from looking awkward.
Punctuation:
 hyphen – Use hyphens to avoid ambiguity or to form a
single idea from two or more words.
 placement – The period and the comma ALWAYS go
within the quotation marks. The dash, the semicolon, the
question mark and the exclamation point go within the
quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only.
They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.
 Do not use more than one space after periods.
Quotes within quotes:
 Alternate between double quotation marks “x” and single
marks „x‟: She said, “I quote from his letter, „I agree with
Kipling that “the female of the species is more deadly than
the male,” but the phenomenon is not an unchangeable law
of nature,‟ a remark he did not explain.”
 Use three marks together if two quoted elements end at the
same time: She said, “He told me, „I love you.‟”
Commas in a series:
 Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a
comma before the conjunction in a simple series. (e.g., The
flag is red, white and blue.)
 Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series,
however, if an integral element of the series requires a
conjunction. (e.g., I had orange juice, toast, and ham and
eggs for breakfast.)
 Use a comma also before the concluding conjunction in a
complex series of phrases. (e.g., The main points to consider
are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete,
whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and if
they have the proper mental attitude.)
Additional Rules for Publication:
o
Avoid passive voice whenever possible.
o
No spaces before/after an em-dash
o
When using ellipses, incorporate one space before and
between each period “ . . . “
o
Do not underline.
o
No initial indent in first paragraph following a bulleted
list.
Use only one space between the state and zip code in
addresses.
o
AFFILIATE-SPECIFIC PREFERENCES
Sutter Health/Shared Pages (10071), 8/25/10 Ashli Barbarito
* Avoid using questions in the openings of articles
* Our Story Is You (page 5) standing feature, formatting rules:
-Headline 1: Everyone Has a Story … Our Story Is You
-Headine 2:
-Use double quotes
-Capitalize first letter of each word per AP rules
-Dek:
-Only first word capitalized
-No punctuation at the end
Amador (6080M), 3/16/09 Ashli Barbarito
* Foundation Board (uppercase)
* Foundation (uppercase)
* non-emergency
Auburn (6081M), 9/22/10 Elyse Sternberg
* Always include quotes and photos for an Auburn Faith doctor and a Roseville doctor in each article
Central Valley Region (6086M), 9/20/10 Ashli Barbarito
* Page order (as originally designated in editorial lineup from client) can be changed as necessary by SCC, as
long as the same number of pages are allowed (e.g., 1 page article vs. spread).
* It is acceptable to abbreviate or shorten the name of the facility after first spelling the entire facility name in
a document. Shortened name preferred over acronym, which is used primarily when space is concern.
-Memorial Medical Center – MMC, Memorial
-Sutter Gould Medical Foundation – SGMF, Sutter Gould
-Sutter Tracy Community Hospital – STCH. Sutter Tracy
-Memorial Hospital Los Banos – MHLB, Memorial Los Banos
-Central Valley region – CVR (in copy)
Central Valley Region (keep „r‟ capped for page footer
* Los Banos: Title for philanthropy coordinator should be written: “Philanthropy Coordinator Michelle
Marchese, Memorial Hospital Los Banos Foundation” – This allows us to capitalize it according to SHN
guidelines and meet their preference.
Delta (6083M), 7/18/11 Andrea Miller
bar-coded (always hyphenate)
No hyphenated line endings
East Bay (10107M), 3/16/09 Ashli Barbarito
SEBMF OK on 2nd reference
Eden (6084M), 9/28/11 Andrea Miller
* capitalize program and class names: ex. Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
* co-sponsored (use hyphen)
* breastfeeding (no hyphen)
* preregistration (no hyphen)
* Imaging Center
* Foundation
* The Eden Foundation
* district
* Neurointerventional Suite
* Eden Township Healthcare District
* San Leandro Hospital Campus
* Eden Medical Center Campus
* Eden should always be referred to as Eden Medical Center, never Sutter Eden
Lakeside (6085M), 3/16/09 Ashli Barbarito
* New name is “Sutter Lakeside Hospital”
Medical Foundation (6088M; formerly Sutter North), 9/22/10 Elyse Sternberg
*New name: Sutter Medical Foundation
* New website: suttermedicalfoundation.org
*URL for Sutter North PowerKids: twitter.com/SNMFPowerKids
*Calendar: telephone numbers not in bold text
*No beach in Yuba City
Solano (6090M), 6/23/09 Ashli Barbarito
*For cancer topics, usually use recommendations from the American Cancer Society for their articles.