Abstracts

• Obtain approval in advance from all co-authors before placing their names on the abstract. Submission of an abstract denotes co-authors as well as authors have read the abstract, take responsibility for its content, and approve that their names appear on the abstract. Failure to obtain approval from all authors will result in immediate rejection of the abstract.
• Include a concise statement of the research under investigation and its objectives. Define all concepts and abbreviations at first use.
• Describe experimental methods briefly (including relevant numbers of patients and/or microorganisms).
• Describe specific findings and analysis of data. (Promises such as “to be completed” are not acceptable).
• Include specific conclusions, with supporting statistical analyses when appropriate. (Concluding statements such as “the results will be discussed” are not acceptable).
• Do not submit multiple abstracts on overlapping facets of the same project unless each abstract has important, novel information and clearly stands on its own. Repetitive abstracts will be rejected.
• Resolve any issues relating to patent matters before submitting the abstract.
• Agree to the SHEA embargo and copyright policy.
• Provide disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and complete an attestation form. List any financial interests, assistance, or relationships with companies, supporters, or commercial products that are related to the research (for example, research support, grants, sponsors, stockholder, etc.). A response to this request must be provided for the presenting author before the abstract can be peer reviewed. If your abstract is accepted, ALL AUTHORS will need to sign in to complete their profiles and disclosures (even if they are not attending the meeting).

It is the policy of SHEA that all faculty, abstract authors, and staff disclose and resolve any real or apparent conflicts of interest relating to the topics of this educational activity. According to the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standard for Integrity and Independence, SHEA must provide balance, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all sponsored educational activities accredited for continuing medical education (CME). The intent of the disclosure is to provide the audience with information on which they can make their own judgments on program content. The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America is accredited by ACCME to provide CME for physicians.

• Abstracts should be no more than 400 words: not including title, authors, and spaces. Words within a table are counted towards the character limit. Figures, title, and authors do not count against the 400-word limit. Use simple fonts.
• Italics, underline, bold, superscript and subscript formatting, Greek characters (both upper and lowercase), scientific characters, charts, tables, and graphs are accepted.
• Do NOT enter any part of your abstract in CAPS, to include title, authors, or abstract body.
• Always include the abstract title, authors, affiliations, and text.
• You may copy and paste the text of your abstract from a word processing document or a clipboard directly into the online abstract box.
• All fields must contain the requested information, or the submission will not be complete.
• Do not send multiple submissions of the same abstract. Duplicate abstracts will be rejected. Be sure to combine all new information into one abstract.
• Obtain approval in advance from all co-authors before placing names on the abstract. Submission of an abstract implies that the author and coauthors are aware that their names will appear on the abstract. Failure to obtain approval from all authors will result in rejection of the abstract.
• Always keep an original copy of your submitted abstract.
• Always proofread your abstract. Accepted abstracts will be published exactly as submitted. If English is not your first language, please have a fluent English speaker review your abstract.

The following is required to complete the online submission. Please note, detailed instructions are provided online during the abstract submission process.

TITLE:
The title is not included in the 400-word limit. Use a concise title that summarizes the content of the abstract. Capitalize the first letter of each word except prepositions, articles, and species names. Italicize all specific/scientific names of microorganisms as appropriate.

SUBJECT CATEGORIES:
Choose 1 Subject Category in order of preference. Abstracts will be divided into categories for programming purposes. The Abstract Committee reserves the right to reassign your abstract.

AUTHORS:
Enter complete author(s) names (example: John S. Doe, MD). Include the name, degree, institution, city, state, and country of all authors and author groups. Do NOT insert periods into authors’ degrees.

AFFILIATIONS:
List the name of each author’s institution, city, state, and country (do not include department, division, laboratory, etc.). Grant acknowledgments should not appear in abstracts but should be included in the CME disclosures.

ABSTRACT TEXT:
Describe the relevance of the research using background, methods, results, and conclusions. SHEA will not edit or revise the abstracts. Submitters/authors are responsible for the accuracy of the abstract text. We recommend that a colleague review the abstract for accuracy and grammar.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Provide all pertinent contact information to ensure that correspondence is received promptly and accurately. You must specify the “presenting author.” SHEA will correspond with the presenting author using only the contact information that is provided at the time of submission. It is the responsibility of the presenting author to communicate future correspondence to all co-authors and abstract submitters. Notifications will be sent to the presenting author only.

CHANGES/MODIFICATIONS:
Changes/modifications, including author and affiliation changes, are allowed for submitted abstracts until the abstract submission deadline. Changes to submitted abstracts will not be possible after this deadline. Once you submit the abstract, a confirmation message will appear on the screen with an abstract tracking number assigned. Keep records of your abstract ID until you receive your abstract disposition letter.