*** ABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS OPEN***
Abstracts can describe work in five main categories:
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Original research identifying new knowledge
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Audit and service evaluation – defining or measuring current practice which may produce internal recommendations for improvements. Audits measure the quality of a service against a defined standard. Service evaluations define what standard a service achieves. Where patient data are to be presented, the proposal should be approved by an ethics committee or the local Caldicott Guardian or, in some situations, by the hospital audit committee.
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Quality improvement (QI) – this involves systematic activities that monitor, assess, and improve the quality of health care. Improving quality makes healthcare safer, effective, patient-centred, timely, efficient, and equitable.
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Surveys of practice or organisational elements of obstetric anaesthetic practice.
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Case reports on interesting or unusual cases are welcomed.
Frequently asked questions
DOES MY ABSTRACT NEED ETHICS APPROVAL?
Regardless of the project's category, authors are advised to seek peer-review and approval of their work by an ethics committee, audit committee or hospital Caldicott Guardian (or equivalent). Failure to do so without adequate explanation may result in the rejection of the abstract.
All oral and poster presenters will be required to state the type of peer review / approval at the time of their presentation. This information should also be included on slides or posters. The meeting organisers may request that authors submit documents relating to the approval of their project or signed consent forms for case reports.
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Original research usually requires the approval of an ethics committee and if patients are involved then their written consent will be required to be involved in the study.
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For audits or service evaluations which intend to present patient data, approval should be first sought from an ethics committee or the local Caldicott Guardian or from the hospital audit committee
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Quality improvement projects would be expected to have had a peer and ethics review through local internal governance structures, such as the hospital audit committee and departmental clinical audit leads. If patient data is to be presented, then approval from the local Caldicott Guardian will be needed.
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Surveys that involve the collection and presentation of patient data will require review and approval by the Caldicott Guardian, or the research and development department or the audit committee. Ethics approval is likely to be required if patients are directly involved in surveys and the data collection is not part of routine care. Authors are advised to contact their local research ethics committee in such cases.
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For case reports, efforts should be made to protect patients' anonymity. Written consent to presentation and publication must have been given (signature of the patient following an explanation that states they understand that, and agree to, their case being presented anonymously at a postgraduate educational meeting. WOA has a consent form that can be used (see below). Presentation of a case series requires local Caldicott Guardian (or equivalent) approval.
DO YOU HAVE A TEMPLATE CONSENT FORM I CAN USE?
WOA has a template consent form for patient consent for case report presentation. This can be found here
IS THERE A FORMAT I SHOULD USE TO SUBMIT MY ABSTRACT?
For case reports use the following subheadings - Introduction, Case report, Discussion, References. For audit/research/QI use the following sub-headings - Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References. There is a word limit of 500 words.
You will also be able to choose whether you wish to be considered for oral presentation or poster presentation only.
ARE THERE ANY PRIZES TO BE WON?
Yes - there will be prizes for best presentation and best poster
HOW DO I SUBMIT MY ABSTRACT?
Click the button above to access the online submission form (and don't forget to register for the meeting)