VIRGULE

A virgule is a punctuation mark “/”. It is also called a diagonal, separatrix, shilling mark, stroke, slant, or forward slash.

· In dates, the month, date, and year are separated by virgule, mostly in demographics.
For example:
ADMISSION DATE: 01/01/2006 (MM/DD/YYYY)
DATE TRANSCRIBED: 01/02/2006 (no space before or after virgule)

· Sometimes a virgule is used to separate two terms to give choice between two entities.

For example:
The patient will be seen by his neurologist and/or psychiatrist.

· The virgule is also used to separate the numerator and denominator in fractions.
For example: 4/10
The wound measured approximately 2-1/4 inch.

· In numeral expressions, virgule is also used to express “over”.
For example:
The strength was 3/5 in all 4 extremities. (Transcribed)
The strength was three over five in all four extremities. (Dictated)

Similarly,
There was a grade 3/6 systolic ejection murmur over the precordium. (Transcribed)
There was grade three over six systolic ejection murmur over the precordium. (Dictated)

· A virgule is used to represent the word “per” when both entities are units of measure and have a numeric quantity with them.

For example:
10 gm per liter (Dictated)
10 gm/L (Transcribed)

· A virgule is used to express terms having duality but referring to the same entity.
For example:
The patient will be seen by his hematologist/oncologist.

VIRGULE