Ishwarya Techno Solutions

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

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.