She is also hyphenating urinary-tract infection, and I don't do that, but again I am at a loss to explain why. Do others hyphenate things like this?

[ 07-16-2001: Message edited by: Kathy G ]

Rosa Lea

quote:

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Common compound expressions as well as essential parts of diseas descriptions are not hypenated. Examples --
low cervical incision
normal sinus rhythm
pelvic inflammatory disease...
right upper quadrant
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...
deep tendon reflexes...
atrial septal defect
low back pain

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I think that left arm pain would come under the same rule as low back pain, and that urinary tract infection would qualify as a part of a disease description.

I would not hyphenate either of those for that reason.

According to the AAMT BOS, they say to NOT use a hyphen with most disease-entity modifiers, and urinary tract infection is one example on their list. Others are pelvic inflammatory disease, cervical disk disease, and so on. It also says to check appropriate references for guidance.

They go on to say that some compound modifiers are used as a unit so often, that they are automatically read as a unit. Examples are deep tendon reflexes, low back pain, left lower quadrant, etc. I think left arm pain would fit in this category,therefore, no hyphen necessary.

Again, this is from AAMT BOS under Compound Modifiers.

Patty

Patty