Call for Abstracts

The 3^rdInternational Society of Advance Care Planning and End of Life Care Conference (ACPEL) Program Committee invites the submission of abstracts for original work for consideration as an oral or poster presentation in the ACPEL program.

The conference is designed both for those who are at the early stages of learning about effective advance care planning programs and for those who are dealing with more complex implementation problems. Abstracts will be selected so as to provide content to a broad range of delegates. The Scientific Committee will select abstracts that represent a range of settings, issues, and both practical/clinical as well as theoretical concerns.

This year’s conference theme is: Informed Choices: Keeping the Person at the Centre of Care.

The purpose of the conference is to provide state-of-the-art advance care planning and end-of-life communication from a clinical, ethical, educational, research, legal, and policy perspective.

Conference objectives:

Identify key elements in developing evidence-based advance care planning programs.
Describe cutting-edge, innovative strategies that improve advance care planning and end-of-life communication.
Discuss sound evaluation and research methods to examine the impact of advance care planning.

ABSTRACT DEADLINE DATES
Deadline for Receipt of Abstracts	20^th January 2012
Authors Notified of Acceptance	February 2012
Author Registration & Early Bird Deadline	19^th March 2012

ACPEL seeks to ensure that all abstracts are free of commercial bias and under no circumstances should the submission include promotion of a product or service. Abstracts may not exceed 250 words in length and are due no later than 20^th January 2012.

Summary of Abstract Submission Instructions

Please read through the submission instructions listed below before preparing your abstract:

Step 1: Read the General Policies and Requirements for the submission of abstracts.

Step 2: Write your abstract following the Abstract Format & Layout Guidelines.

Step 3: Download the Abstract Template and insert/add your abstract text. To download, please right click on the link and ‘Save As’ a .doc file to your computer. Please note: Abstracts must not exceed a 250 word limit. The word limit relates only to the text of the abstract and does not include title, authors and institutions. The complete abstract (including text, graphs and tables) must not exceed a size limit of 15cm (5.9 inches) wide and 12cm (4.7 inches) in length.

Step 4: Click on the button below to complete the Abstract Submission Form. It will be necessary to attach/upload the .doc copy of your abstract.

NOTE: Please print a copy of the abstract submission form for your records prior to clicking ‘upload’.

Notification of Acceptance

Notifications of acceptance will be sent via e-mail to the submitting author in February 2012. Abstracts submitted for oral presentations that cannot be accommodated within the program will be considered and reviewed for a place in the Poster display.

Accepted abstracts will be published in the Conference proceedings. The Conference Managers will not be held responsible for abstract submissions not received via the website or for submission errors caused by internet service outages, hardware or software delays, power outages or unforeseen events.

Themes for Submission

Authors must select one of the following themes that their abstract relates to.

Conceptual/theoretical/ethical/research questions regarding care planning and end of life decision-making (e.g., how to best measure the impact of advance care planning on patients, families, and utilization of health services).
“Best Practice” programs to train professionals to facilitate the planning process with different populations or for different types of decisions.
Effective implementation strategies for all types of care planning including medical records systems, electronic registries, documentation tools, effective ways to organise a team approach to advance care planning within a health care setting.
Review and critique of public policy or legislative approach that supports or hinders advance care planning.
Community engagement strategies for either large, diverse populations or for specific, special populations. Examples include neonatal or pediatric advance care planning, care planning with a new immigrant population, planning with patients before implanting a pace-maker.

General Policies and Requirements

All abstracts must be original work. An abstract should not be submitted if the work is to be published or presented at a major national or international meeting prior to the 3^rd International Society of Advance Care Planning and End of Life Care Conference (ACPEL).
An abstract must contain sufficient information so that if published it will be a complete report independent of presentation. The text should not contain statements alluding to results or conclusions not presented within the text.
Information should be evidence-based and practical. Participants are interested in the “how to’s” of a topic.
Submission acknowledges consent to publication of the abstract in the Conference proceedings publication.
The presenting author will be required to register for the Conference in order to ensure their abstract(s) is included in the final program. Deadline for presenting author registration is 19^th March 2012.
All submissions must be completed electronically via the online submission facility. If you are unable to submit in this manner, please contact the Conference Managers at acpelconference@acpelsociety.com or phone: +61 3 9417 088 for further information.
All abstracts must be prepared according to the guidelines provided. Abstracts will only be accepted and published if submitted using the supplied template. Review carefully the information on how to write objectives. A precise format is required for continuing education credit.
There is no limit to the number of abstracts that may be submitted by an individual. However, it is important to note that only one oral presentation will be accepted per person. If your abstract is unsuccessful, it will automatically be considered for a Poster Presentation. However, splitting of a body of work into multiple abstracts is discouraged and consolidation into one abstract is preferred.

Abstract Format and Layout Guidelines

Abstracts must not exceed a 250 word limit. The word limit relates only to the text of the abstract and does not include title, authors and institutions.
The complete abstract (including text, graphs and tables) must be no more than 15cm (5.9 inches) wide and 12cm (4.7 inches) in length.
Tables or graphics may be included but must fit within the abstract box of the template. Font must be Times New Roman, size 11. Formatting is preserved (italics, bold, superscripting, subscripting, underlining) and symbol characters (ie ± , µ, ß) may be used.
The template will allow a title of up to 180 characters in length.
Abstracts must be free of typographical and grammatical errors.
Standard abbreviations may be used for common terms only. Otherwise, any abbreviation should be given in brackets after the first full use of the word. Abbreviations may be used in the title, provided the name in full is outlined in the body of the abstract.
You will be asked to provide a short biography (up to 150 words) with your submission.
You will be asked to nominate your preference for poster or oral presentation.
Font type must be Times New Roman Font 11pt.
Use single line spacing.
Title should be in lower case, bold and at the top of the abstract.
The name of the presenting author is to be indicated by an asterisk (*). The authors’ names should be followed by institution and city. The institution and city should be in italics.
Authors who wish to indicate multiple organisational affiliations should do so using superscript numbers to indicate the author’s institution followed by city and country (in this order). Do not include degrees or professional titles (e.g. Dr, Prof., etc).

See example below:

B. Smith^1*; M.R. Pattermore^1,2; L. Ward²
¹University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; ²University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia

Abstract Template and Sample Abstract

Authors must prepare their abstract in advance using the template located at the link below. All abstracts will be checked and if you don’t use the template your abstract may be declined. Authors can then upload the completed abstract via the online form.

Abstract Template

Sample Abstract

Example of layout below:

Title of the Abstract (Times New Roman, Title Case, Bold, Font 11)

F. Moran¹, J. Bradley² (Times New Roman, Font 11)

¹University of Ulster, Northern Ireland; ²Belfast City Hospital, Northern Ireland (Times New Roman, Font 11, Italic)

<insert abstract body>.

Do NOT include paragraph headings such as aims, materials & methods, results etc

Do NOT include references.

Presenting authors will be automatically informed of the unique access keys and passwords assigned to their abstracts. Abstracts may be viewed and modified at any time between submission and the deadline, using the assigned access key and password.

Further Information

Frequently Asked Questions

NURSES:

Gundersen Health System, Inc., is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Wisconsin Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

The program will award up to 19.9 contact hours, upon completion.

SOCIAL WORKERS:

Gundersen Lutheran, provider #1089, is approved as a provider for continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards. www.aswb.org. ASWB Approval Period: November 15, 2009 – November 15, 2012. Gundersen Lutheran maintains responsibility for the program. Licensed social workers should contact their individual state jurisdiction to review current continuing education requirements for licensure renewal.

Social workers will receive up to 19.2 continuing education clock hours in participating in this course.