How do you indicate a little c or little s when you are handwriting antibodies? I have seen it written with a line above the letter. But I was going through some of our old records today and noticed a c with a line below it. Would you think it stands for big c? This also comes up when I am handwriting our antibody cards for patients, so I would appreciate some guidance and where to find the proper protocol.

Thanks, Mari

I always hand write it with a line OVER the letter -but that doesn't mean I am right.

I do as Malcolm does

We also do a line over the letter.

Malcolm rules

Agree!

Agree...

Agree

That was what I understood as well. That is why I was confused to see a c (C?) with a line under it. Does anyone do that for a big C?

I have never seen a line under a letter used to indicate a capital.

 

Scott

line over - YES

Never heard of a line under for a capital.  I have, however, heard of a line under for a gene, on the grounds that most people (ESPECIALLY me) do not have good enough handwriting to write in italics!

Could you phenotype the patient to confirm? If they are c+, they won't have an anti-c...

......and in most cases, as anti-c is an immune antibody, most c- patients will not have anti-c in their plasma either!

I've been known to use this format:  Anti- little c.  Not often, usually when writing it for a patient.  Otherwise I followed the convention of a line over top of the c. 

 

To those of you elderly type like me, a c with a line over it was also shorthand for "with".  For you young folks, I won't even attempt to explain shorthand. 

Auntie D, these patients were on cards before the computer was used and I was double checking the information to see if it was right.  We haven't actually seen this patient for 15 years!  I just wanted to make sure the reporting convention was interpreted correctly in the computer since it was handwritten.

When commenting in the patient's history, I write out Anti-little c.  My middle name is "Preventive/Preventative".

I've been known to use this format:  Anti- little c.  Not often, usually when writing it for a patient.  Otherwise I followed the convention of a line over top of the c. 

 

To those of you elderly type like me, a c with a line over it was also shorthand for "with".  For you young folks, I won't even attempt to explain shorthand. 

Just say it was an ancestor of texting.

I have never seen a line below but I did have a tech put quotations around it before "c" it was because the tech for some reason didn't know that you were supposed to use the line above?  There is a first time for everything i guess.

On the topic of antigen printing, please know that in 60-90 days,  HemaTrax® labeling software will include a utility to print the lower case letters- “c”, “k”, and “s” in white on a  black background (reverse print) in the test result text lines for Red Blood Cell Antigen tests.  The letters  will be  easier to read and differentiate in a way that is also ICCBBA/ISBT 128 compliant.