This report describes my internship at MedPlus, Inc., a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, between August 1 and October 14, 2008. MedPlus is a leading provider of information technology solutions to hospitals and other medical sites. I interned with the documentation group for MedPlus’ flagship product, ChartMaxx, editing, authoring, and designing instructional materials for ChartMaxx users.
This report reflects the phases of my internship: my introduction to the company, training within the technical communications department, and work on ChartMaxx documentation. I have also made conclusions describing differences between academic communication and the practical workforce, strengths and limitations of a technical communications department, and the lessons I learned while moving from academic to professional communication. These conclusions are juxtaposed to relative theories of knowledge management.