The quality of hospital medical records, which are usually maintained by transcribing from doctors' dictation, was found to suffer because of foreign medical graduates' phonological problems and lack of familiarity with good dictation procedure. As a step in correcting this situation, eight taped discharge summaries were subjected to an analysis of the following features: (1) phonology (medical abbreviations); (2) lexicon (technical vocabulary and verbs); (3) syntax (copula, prepositions, and relative clauses); and (4) discourse (mean length of utterance, pronouns, and active/passive choice). Results of each phase of analysis are reported in narrative and briefly commented on. Appendices include a bibliography, a checklist for clarity in dictating records, a sample discharge summary, a table of general comments on features by topic, and lists of verbs and abbreviations with their frequency of use in the records that were analyzed. (JB)