Call For Abstracts – Palliative Care

Late Breaking Abstract Submission for the 2023 South African Palliative Care Conference

Good news! You can still present your work at the 2023 South Africa Palliative Care Conference taking place from 26 – 29 April in Cape Town. The Scientific Chairs invite you take advantage of this short window of opportunity to showcase your work by submitting a Late Breaking Abstract.

Late Breaking abstract submission will run from 14 – 28 February 2023. All criteria for the former abstract submission process applies.

Additional submission criteria:

Late breaking abstracts should present information that is high impact, innovative and newsworthy.
Your abstract should present results of research not available at the time of the 21 November 2022 abstract submission deadline.
The author of the late breaking abstract is expected to attend the conference in person to present their abstract.
Abstracts may be submitted for oral presentation but are more likely to be accepted as a poster.

Call For Abstracts for the 2023 South African Palliative Care Conference

We are pleased to let you know that the abstract submission for the South African Palliative Care Conference 2023 (#SAPCC23) is now open. The conference will take place in Cape Town from 26 – 29 April 2023 as a collaboration between the three leading palliative care associations in South Africa, being the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa (HPCA), Palliative Care for Children South Africa (PatchSA) and the Association of Palliative Care Practitioners of South Africa (PALPRAC).

The theme of the conference is ‘Palliative Care is Everyone’s Business’ with the aim to reach out and to welcome patients, families, volunteers and professionals from a broad diversity of vocations whose work brings them in contact with patients across all ages with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions.

A significant component of the conference programme will be abstract-driven and we encourage you to submit work that introduces new and innovative ideas and/or concepts, research findings and advances to the field of both adult and/or paediatric and/or palliative care systems, as well as analysis of both success and failure. We invite all forms of research, studies and reports.

The focus of the conference will be on the imperative for palliative care of the future to be inclusive, relevant, and sustainable.

Inclusive: Encompassing clinical conditions across every discipline of medical care, all age groups and every care setting.

Relevant: Involving a bio-psycho-socio-cultural and spiritual multidisciplinary team approach to every patient and ethical considerations.

Sustainable: Engaging health systems (patients and families, policy makers, regulators, medical schemes, professional bodies, hospital administrators and academia) to ensure access and integration.

The conference programme will include workshops, plenary and parallel presentations and will be compiled with due consideration by the multidisciplinary Scientific Committees.

We invite you to submit abstracts for presentation at the conference. Abstracts can be submitted either as an oral or as a poster presentation and the final decision on the format will be made by the Scientific Committees.

Please note, the deadline for abstract submission has been extended 1 December 2022.

Dr Michelle Meiring
Chair : Paediatric Palliative Care
Scientific Committee

Dr RakshaBalbadhur
Chair : Adult Palliative Care
Scientific Committee

Important Information About Abstracts

A significant part of the conference programme will be built around accepted abstracts which will also be published in an online programme before the conference. The abstract provides written information about each presentation and allows reviewers and the Scientific Committees to decide upon the quality of the research/topic and its suitability for inclusion in the scientific programme.

Preference will be given to abstracts not previously published in any national or international journal or presented at any international conference.

A list of thematic tracks has been provided to group abstracts. Abstracts may fit more than one track but a single category should be selected. The Scientific Committee may re-categorise the abstract in order to shape the final programme.

Authors must indicate their preference for oral/poster presentation or poster presentation only. The final decision about the type of presentation will be made by the Scientific Committee.

The presenting author is expected to attend the conference to deliver the oral presentation or present the poster. The submission of an abstract does not replace registration for the conference. The presenting author must register and pay for their attendance at the conference before 20 March 2023.

Abstracts may only be submitted using the electronic abstract form on the conference website. Once the electronic submission is concluded the corresponding author will receive a confirmation by email with an abstract number to which he/she will need to refer in any correspondence regarding the submission.

After the reviewing process, the Scientific Committee will allocate the accepted abstracts to poster or oral presentation. The corresponding author will be notified by email of the decision of the Scientific Committee and will be responsible for informing the other authors about the status of the abstract. The Scientific Committee reserves the right to make the final decision on abstracts.

Abstract Deadlines

Criteria For Abstract Submission

The abstract text cannot exceed 300 words.
Abstracts must be written in English, explained abbreviations may be used.
The number of authors should not exceed eight.
References are not required. If supplied, they are included in the character count.
Generic drug names should be preferred. The use of trade names is discouraged and should only be used when necessary.
Only one table may be included per abstract.
Preference will be given to abstracts that have not been published at a previous national or international conference.
To avoid issues with copyright, your abstract may not have been published previously in any international or national journal.

Submission Option 1:

Suited for abstracts with concise descriptions of research and related studies on palliative care and include aim, methods used, results and conclusions.

Abstracts should clearly state:

Background-context-aims
Indicate the purpose and objective of the research, the hypothesis that was tested or a description of the problem discussed.
Methods
Describe the setting/location for the study, study design, study population, ethical considerations, data collection and methods of statistical analysis.
Results
Present as clearly and detailed as possible the findings/outcome of the study, with specific results in summarised form.
Conclusions
Briefly describe the data and main outcome/s of the study as well as its possible limitations. Emphasise the implications of the results and their significance for the treatment, care and/or support of children and their families affected by life-limiting or life-threatening illness.

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Submission Option 2:

Suited for case studies and lessons learned through programme or project implementation or management. Abstracts submitted under the second option should contain concise statements on the background, description, lessons learned and conclusions or next steps.

Abstracts should clearly state:

Background
Summarise the purpose, scope and objectives, of the programme, project or policy.
Description
Describe the programme, project or policy period / setting / location, the structure, key population (if applicable), activities and interventions undertaken in support of the programme, project or policy.
Lessons learned
Present as clearly and in as much detail as possible the findings / outcomes of the programme, project or policy; include an analysis or evaluation of lessons learned and best practices. Please summarize any specific results that support your lessons learned and best practices.
Conclusions/Next steps
Explain the significance of your findings / outcomes of the programme, project or policy, treatment, care and / or support, and future implications of the results.