VIRGULES ("/" -- slashes)... 4 mL/kg per day -not- 4 mL/kg/day
Per the AAMT BOS:
virgule (/)
The virgule, also known as diagonal, slant line, slash, solidus, is used for a variety
of purposes.
alternatives
Virgules are often used to express equivalent alternatives. However, this
construction can often be avoided by the use of and or or.
- a yes or no vote
- preferred to a yes/no vote
The and/or construction is particularly awkward and can be remedied in
the following manner.
- We are considering surgery or chemotherapy, or both.
- preferred to We are considering surgery and/or chemotherapy.
per
To express per with a virgule, there must be at least one specific numeric quantity, and the element immediately on each side of the virgule must be
either a specific numeric quantity or a unit of measurement.
Do not use a virgule when a unit of measure does not have an acceptable abbreviated form, when a prepositional phrase intervenes between the
elements between per, or when a nontechnical phrase is used.
- Sed rate: 52 mm/h
- 120 beats per minute not 120 beats/min
- She takes 5 mg of Valium per day. not She takes 5 mg of Valium/day.
- She weighs in 3 days per week. not She weighs in 3 d/wk.
Avoid using more than one virgule per expression to reduce clutter and enhance readability.
- 4 mL/kg per minute not 4 mL/kg/min
Exception: It is very common in cancer protocols to use two virgules in an expression of a dosage.
- The patient was begun on a lymphoma protocol that included doxorubicin 25 mg/m2/day on days 1 and 15...
Do not abbreviate English units of time except in virgule constructions and tables. Do not use periods with such abbreviations.
- The patient is 5 days old.
- He will return in 3 weeks for followup.
- 40 mm/h
In virgule constructions (and tables), use the following abbreviations from the SI (International System of Units). Note that no periods are used.
- minute -- use min
- hour – use h
- day – use d
- week – use wk
- month – use mo
- year – use y
