Call for Abstracts

In Australia, the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission is considering options for restructuring the Australian Health System. And in New Zealand, while there is a sense of reform fatigue, many incremental changes and innovations in health services are continually being introduced. How can health service researchers respond to these current needs for health care and health system reform? Rewarding good performance necessitates performance measurement and monitoring. What is being done in Australia and New Zealand? And what can we learn from other countries?

The 6th biennial conference of the Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand will be held in Brisbane from 25-27 November. Abstracts are invited for paper sessions, organised sessions and poster presentations (5 minutes).

 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

ORGANISED SESSIONS
Abstracts are invited for organized sessions comprising three or four oral presentations around a common theme. Presenters should be from two or more organisations. Proposals for sessions around a single research study will not be accepted.

Abstracts for organised sessions should conform to the following requirements:

• Include a short title (up to 10 words)
• Name of a chairperson
• A brief (maximum 250 words) introduction to the topic
• Three/four abstracts of individual papers,
• Each abstract should be a maximum of 250 words and should include:
• the presenter’s name, institution, address, email, and telephone
• names of co-authors
• No Tables, charts, graphs, or references
• Arial 12 point font and single spacing

Long (ORAL) AND SHORT (POSTER) PRESENTATIONS
Abstracts for long (oral) and short (poster) presentations should conform to the following requirements:

• Include a short title (up to 10 words) and the author's names (asterisk the presenting author)
• Maximum 250-word length
• The following structure is suggested for your abstract, where appropriate:
• Background
• Data gathered and Methods used
• Results and Conclusions

•  No Tables, charts, graphs, or references
•  Times New Roman 12 point font and single spacing
•  Indicate preferred conference theme
•  Provide up to 5 keywords to assist organisers in streaming papers.
• Include presenting author's contact details including institution, address, email, and telephone.
• Indicate the preferred presentation format (oral or poster).

THE PROCESS FOR SUBMITTING AN ABSTRACT IS:

1. Prepare your Abstract
Prepare your abstract as a Microsoft Word document.

2. Submit your abstract
Abstracts must be submitted online via the conference website.  Click on the ‘Submit Abstract’ link and enter your contact details and the presentation details. You can enter multiple abstracts.

During the abstract submission process you will be asked to enter the following:

• Abstract title
• Name and address of corresponding author
• Preferred presentation type
• Authors’ names (indicate presenting author)
• Authors’ affiliations
• Abstract (maximum 250 words)
• Short biography of presenter (maximum 50 words). This information will be used by the session chair for introduction purposes or could possibly be published in Conference literature.

3. Upload your abstract
At the end of the registration process you will be asked to upload your MS Word abstract document.  Abstracts will be accepted until 10 July 2009.

Abstract Selection

The Conference Committee will review abstracts suitable for presentation at the Conference, based on academic merit and subject matter relevance. There are a limited number of presentation places available for organised sessions and oral presentations. Abstracts not accepted for oral presentation will be considered for poster presentation.  Authors of accepted posters will be given an opportunity to speak briefly to their poster during the conference.

Authors will be advised of acceptance or non-acceptance of abstracts by 4 September 2009. Accepted abstracts will be published in the Conference Handbook.

Presentation Formats

Long (Oral) Presentation
It is anticipated presentations will be allocated 20 minutes, including 5 minutes question time.

Short (Poster) Presentations
Authors will have 5 minutes to present their posters). Posters will be displayed for the duration of the conference. Each poster will be allocated a 1-metre wide x 1-metre high board and the poster must fit within this area. A short title, author and co-authors' names, the name of the institution where the work was carried out, and an abstract should appear at the top of the poster. A 22-point font size is suggested.

 

Accessing the Speaker’s Zone

When you register your presentation you will be given an Access Key. If you wish to submit a new presentation or replace an existing presentation you can do so through the Speakers’ Zone.

 

Audiovisual Equipment

A data projector, computer, laser pointer and microphone will be available for each presentation. Presenters will need to take their PowerPoint slides to the conference on a CD-ROM or memory stick. An audiovisual technician will load your presentation. Presenters are not able to use their own laptop to run their presentation.

Conference Registration

All presenters will be required to register for the conference by 16 October 2009.  It will be assumed that any presenter not registered by this date has withdrawn from the program and their abstract will be removed from the Handbook. 

 

Copyright Statement

The author/s reserve/s all propriety rights such as patent rights.  The author/s retain the right to use all or part of this presentation in future works of their own, such as lectures, press releases, reviews or textbooks. The presenting author is responsible for obtaining evidence of copyright clearance/authority on any items subject to copyright, which are included in this presentation.

All accepted abstracts will be reproduced in the Conference Handbook and/or on the Conference website.

 

Key Dates

Online Registration Opens                 15 May 2009
Call for Abstracts Closes                     10 July 2009
Close of ‘early bird’ registration        25 September 2009
Notification of Abstract submission    11 September 2009

For further information please contact:
Conference Logistics*
PO Box 6150
Kingston ACT  2604
T 02 6281 6624
F 02 6285 1336
*Acting as agent for HSRAANZ