Call for Abstracts

Submit an abstract for the Eighth Annual Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) Conference. This is an opportunity to share your EVIDENCE-BASED navigation research studies, quality improvement projects, and best practices utilizing pre- and post-data elements to enhance your program with your navigation and survivorship care colleagues. Please see below for the specific categories and the instructions in submitting an abstract.

This year, we also welcome a separate category for industry-sponsored clinical research. (Please note, this is informational only and not eligible for the Exceptional Poster Award.)

To Participate

To have your research considered for inclusion in the 2017 AONN+ Annual Conference poster session, please submit an abstract of your research project to AONN+ using our online submission system. E-mailed or faxed submissions will not be accepted.

All submissions will be peer-reviewed and the abstract author(s) will be notified of acceptance for poster display and/or presentation at the 2017 Annual Conference. Submissions should include 5 sections: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.

If accepted, authors are expected to create a poster for display at the Annual Conference, as well as send a PDF of the poster for submission to the Exceptional Poster Award. Winners of the Exceptional Poster Award will be announced at the Annual Conference.

To have your research considered, please submit your abstract by August 11, 2017.

Abstract Submission Deadline

The abstract submission deadline has passed. Thank you for your submissions. If you have not yet been contacted, expect a response within 7 business days from the date the abstract was submitted.

Abstract Guidelines

General

• All abstracts should be prepared as a Microsoft Word document. Abstracts must fit on a single 8.5" ×11" page using a 10- or 12-point Arial font.
• Word count: 500. This does not include the title, author listing, or references.
• All abstracts must include full author names (including any applicable degrees) and author primary affiliations.
• Primary contact information will be captured on the following submission page.
• All accepted abstracts must have at least one representative as a registered attendee of the conference.

Content

• Abstracts MUST INCLUDE: Title, Authors, Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
• Generic names should be used for drugs and devices, not trade names.
• Abbreviations may be used in the text of the abstracts if they are defined. Spell out the term at the first full mention and follow with the abbreviation in parentheses.
• Figures/Tables will not be permitted.
• RESOURCES:
  • Click here for an example of an abstract that needs work, and the comments from the reviewer to improve the abstract and make it acceptable for inclusion.
  • Click here for Abstract Criteria for Acceptance.
  • How to write a research abstract

Disclosures

• If the research within your abstract is sponsored in any way by a pharmaceutical company, you must indicate this on your abstract. This information will not be part of the word count. Individual author disclosures are not required.

Encore/Previously Presented Information

• Abstracts previously presented at other conferences will be considered. Information regarding the previous presentation should be included in the document you will be submitting. Permission to reproduce may need to be granted as well (see below).

Permission to Reproduce

• All accepted abstracts will be placed on the AONN+ website under 2017 Conference Abstracts. In addition, AONN+ will publish all abstracts in the preconference issue of the Journal of Oncology Navigation & Survivorship. By submitting an abstract, it is understood that the primary author has the permission of the coauthors, and any applicable conference or journal, to reproduce the abstract as written.

Notification

• Notification regarding a decision will be made via e-mail to the designated contact person.
• Upon acceptance, further instructions regarding poster presentation will be provided.

Abstract/Poster Categories

Category I: Community Outreach/Prevention

Navigators must have core knowledge of early signs of cancer, screening guidelines, and community and state resources available to support the patient’s population.

Potential topics include:

• Cancer screening
• Cancer screening follow-up to diagnostic workup
• Completion of diagnostic workup
• Disparate populations at screening events
• Community needs assessment
• Genetics
• Risk assessment
• Population health

Category II: Care Coordination/Care Transitions

The role of the navigator along the continuum of care is bidimensional in nature, with a patient-centered (empowerment of education and knowledge) and health system (multidisciplinary) orientation to deliver timely, seamless care

Potential topics include:

• Barriers to care
• Interventions
• Clinical trial education and referrals
• Patient education
• Diagnosis to initial treatment and diagnosis to first oncology consult
• Tumor boards
• Multidisciplinary approach to care
• Models of navigation

Category III: Patient Empowerment/Patient Advocacy

Patient advocacy is protecting the individual’s rights and autonomy, speaking up for the individual and community needs and educating providers in the healthcare system on an individual's preference of  care and needs, and ensuring the individual’s needs and preferences are integrated into the care delivery.

Potential topics include:

• Patient problem-solving and patient goals
• Caregiver support
• Identifying learning styles
• Engagement in decision making tools
• Patient support groups

Category IV: Psychosocial Support/Assessment

Distress extends along a continuum, ranging from common normal feelings of vulnerability, sadness, and fear to problems that can be disabling, such as depression, anxiety, panic, social isolation, and existential and spiritual crisis. 

Potential topics include:

• Psychosocial distress screening
• Social support referrals
• Strategies for coping, disease, treatment, stress/anxiety

Category V: Professional Roles and Responsibilities

Navigation is integral to facilitating effective interprofessional collaboration and promoting patient satisfaction and care quality, as well as efficiently using healthcare resources to decrease cost across oncology patient populations

Potential topics include:

• Navigation knowledge at time of orientation
• Oncology navigator core competencies review
• Tracking workloads

Category VI: Research, Quality, Performance Improvement

Navigators can use research and outcomes to develop and validate the programs and services provided.

Potential topics include:

• Patient experience and satisfaction with care
• Navigation program validation based on community assessment needs
• Original research on navigation programs
• How data are used for continuous  improvement
• Patient transitions from point of entry
• Diagnostic workup to diagnosis

Category VII: Operations Management, Organization Development, Health Economics

The identification of barriers, recognizing how barriers affect patient care, and providing interventions/resources to address barriers related to flow and processes of care are at the heart of operations management.

Potential topics include:

• Health care economics
• Organizational development
• Utilization resources
• Metrics:
  • 30-, 60-, 90-day readmission rate
  • Navigation operational budget
  • Navigation caseload, referrals to revenue-generating services
  • No-show rate
  • Patient retention through navigation
  • Emergency department utilization
  • Emergency admissions per number of chemotherapy patients

Category VIII: Survivorship and End of Life

Throughout the seasons of survival, it is imperative for healthcare providers to continually offer the components of survivorship care in the forms of prevention through health and wellness promotion, surveillance for recurrence and screening for new cancers, intervention for management of lasting physical and psychosocial effects, and coordination of care for the cancer survivor.

Potential topics include:

• Survivorship care plans
• Transition from treatment to survivorship
• Referrals to support services at the survivorship visit
• Palliative care referrals
• Hospice referrals
• Bereavement  programs

Category IX: Clinical Research

AONN+ welcomes industry-supported abstracts about clinical research. Abstracts submitted to this category will be reviewed for scientific rigor. Abstracts submitted in this category are not eligible for the Exceptional Poster Award.