Seminar ER3: The art of writing an abstract and getting it accepted

Linked to EAHP Statements

Section 6 – Education and Research

ACPE UAN: 0475-0000-18-026-L04-P. A knowledge based activity.

Abstract

Scientific abstracts cover the main points of a study and its results. They represent condensed and clearly structured summaries that allow the reader to understand the most important aspects (e.g. study rationale, methods, results) at a glance. The task of writing an abstract can be challenging, and several pitfalls may lead to impaired quality or even rejection of the abstract. First impression matters!

In 2017, 446 submitted congress abstracts (42,19%) were rejected by the scientific committee of EAHP due to various reasons. Hence, the current seminar will, among other things, address common pitfalls related to creating abstracts for EAHP and congresses in general.

The seminar is dedicated to ambitious hospital pharmacists who plan to submit a high-quality abstract for future congresses, want to improve their abstract writing skills and want to reduce the risk for abstract rejection.

Learning objectives

After the session, the participant should be able to:

• Apply good scientific practice when creating scientific questions and choosing study methodology;
• Outline the structure and the different parts of a high quality scientific abstract;
• Name the most common reasons for abstract rejection;
• Write a scientific abstract, according to the structure asked for by the EAHP; and,
• Avoid the most common pitfalls of writing an abstract and avoid reasons for abstract rejection.

Educational need addressed

Research findings need to be clearly communicated in order to be effectively translated to everyday practice. Hospital pharmacists need to know how to best write up and communicate their own research.

Keywords: abstracts, abstract writing.