Abstract Guidelines

Important Information for Submitting an Abstract

To Get Started

1. Read the Abstract Submission Policies. This information should help you determine if the PCNA Annual Cardiovascular Nursing Symposium is a good fit for your abstract.
2. Read the Abstract Submission Guidelines. These details outline the submission content that will be requested.

Awards & Publication

• Two outstanding written abstracts (one in each category) will be selected for oral presentations. Winners will receive a $250 award and deliver a 10-minute oral presentation to participants during the program.
• During the Symposium, a first, second, or third place ribbon will be placed on winning posters. A $250 award will be given to the first-place winners in each category.
• All presenters and all first, second and third place winners will be recognized during General Sessions and published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 

Key Dates

• August 31, 2021: Call for Abstracts opens
• November 5, 2021: Call for Abstracts closes
• January 31, 2022: Authors notified of decision
• March 24-26, 2022: Cardiovascular Nursing Symposium in Las Vegas, NV

Submission Policies

• Only original abstracts will be considered (not previously published or presented prior to submitting to PCNA)
• Submission of an abstract constitutes a commitment by the author to present a poster at PCNA’s 28th Annual Cardiovascular Nursing Symposium.
• Any author may not be the first author on more than one submission.
• Any investigator may not present more than two posters.
• Industry representatives (i.e. from device/pharmaceutical/food companies) cannot be the first author on any submitted abstracts.
• Industry-related presenters may have a post in the General Poster Sessions but are not eligible for being published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing or providing an oral presentation.
• The deadline for submission is November 5, 2021. Submissions received after this date will not be accepted for review.

Submission Guidelines

• In the full abstract, please list full names, followed by degrees/credentials, employer, phone, fax and city/state for each author.
• Be sure that street address, zip code, and grant support are NOT listed in abstracts.
• The abstract itself may not exceed a word count of 300, including tables. The 300-word limit does not include the title or author(s) information.
• Original Research, Innovative Projects and Graduate Capstone must have empirical evidence. PCNA will not accept case studies and literature reviews.
• When using abbreviations, spell out in full in the first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.
• Check accuracy of spelling, grammar, and punctuation: your poster abstract will appear in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing exactly as you submit it. Thus, any errors, misspellings, incorrect hyphenations, or deviations from good grammatical usage will appear in the published abstract.
• If you do not receive an e-mail confirmation within 24 hours after submitting your abstract online, it is your responsibility to contact the PCNA National Office to make sure we have received your submission.

Selection Process

The Abstract Review Committee will make selections using a blind review process.

Category Description

Origional Research

Including research that reports data from existing data sets or original basic, clinical, or population-level research.

Innovation in Patient Care

Including, but not limited to, quality and process improvement projects, patient education/counseling programs, and creative approaches to patient and system-focused programs.

Graduate Capstone

Master’s and doctoral (DNP or PhD) level projects that provide data that may inform quality/process improvement or provide preliminary basic, clinical, or population-level research findings. PhD-level projects may be better suited to the original research category.

Grading Criteria

1. The investigation should be based on original concepts and provide important new data.
2. The topic should be relevant to the theme of the meeting or mission of PCNA.
3. The study design and methodology of the research project should be appropriate.
4. The abstract should include complete data or information on outcomes.
5. The findings should be factual, unique, practical, and appropriate to the PCNA audience.
6. The conclusions should be valid.
7. The abstract should be well written (i.e., straightforward and easy to understand).

The following components are required for each abstract:

• Background
• Methods
• Interventions
• Results
• Conclusion(s)
• Implication(s) for practice