ELIGIBILITY

The competition is open to all general surgery residents, surgical specialty residents, and trauma fellows. Medical students are not eligible. TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR PRESENTATION AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL, ABSTRACTS SUBMITTED MAY HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY PRESENTED BUT NOT PUBLISHED AS FULL PAPERS IN ANY PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL BEFORE MARCH 19, 2009.

SUBMISSION OF MILITARY/CIVILIAN RESIDENT TRAUMA PAPERS

If the resident or fellow is in the US military, the abstract must be submitted through the Military Region, regardless of whether the work was performed in a military or civilian institution. If the resident or fellow is a civilian, the abstract must be submitted through the resident/fellow’s geographic region, regardless of whether the work was performed in a military or civilian institution. Exceptions may be made only through a mutual discussion and decision by the respective Region Chiefs.

SCOPE

The abstracts should describe original research in trauma, critical care, or injury prevention. The topics can be categorized as one of the following: 1) basic laboratory research or 2) clinical investigation. Two abstracts from each region (usually one from each category) are submitted for consideration for presentation at the national meeting, but only one will be selected for the national competition.

TIME SCHEDULE FOR SUBMISSION OF PAPERS

Residents or trauma fellows should submit a three-page abstract to the appropriate State/Provincial Chair (information can be obtained by contacting the ACS Trauma Office or by going to http://www.facs.org/trauma/regional.html). The dates for local competitions vary, but State/Provincial Chairs must submit abstracts from local competitions to the appropriate Region Chief by November 14, 2008. Each Region Chief will establish a regional competition to select one abstract in basic laboratory research and one abstract in clinical investigation for consideration for presentation at the national competition.

The Region Chief will submit two copies of each abstract (one blind copy with only the paper’s title for judging and one with the principal author’s name, institution, phone, fax, and e-mail) to the Trauma Office by December 12, 2008. A preselected panel of judges from the COT will rank these abstracts and select a balance of basic and clinical abstracts representing each of the 16 regions by early January 2009. Each regional winner will be notified shortly thereafter.

SPECIFICATIONS FOR PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS

• The abstract should be no more than three pages and should provide adequate information and objective data to evaluate the abstract properly.
• The abstract should be submitted electronically, preferably as a Word document. It is permissible to single-space the abstract.
• At the top of the first page, the full title of the abstract and full name of the principal author, with academic degrees, are to be stated.
• At the bottom of the first page, a footnote should be included to provide the principal author’s mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. This contact information is very important.

AWARDS AND PRESENTATION OF PAPERS

Winning residents will attend the Annual Meeting of the Committee on Trauma. The competition will pay for coach airfare to Chicago and a three-day hotel stay for each winning resident.  

Papers will be presented during the Scientific Session on Thursday afternoon, March 19, 2009. All regional winners are also expected to attend the Committee on Trauma Banquet on Friday, March 20, 2009, where the winners of the national competition will be announced.

The competition is funded by the Eastern and Western States Committees on Trauma, Region 7 Committees on Trauma, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, the National Trauma Institute, and the American College of Surgeons.

For information regarding the name of the local State/Provincial Chair, or for any other information concerning the Residents Trauma Paper Competition, please contact the ACS Trauma Programs Office at 312-202-5380 or visit the following Web pages: http://www.facs.org/trauma/traumapapers.html or http://www.facs.org/trauma/regional.html

The winning papers from both the Basic Science and Clinical Science categories will be eligible for publication (after the Annual Meeting) in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

American College of Surgeons
Trauma Office
633 N. Saint Clair St., Chicago, IL 60611-3211
Phone: 312-202-5380 Fax: 312-202-5005
E-mail to: Bridget Blackwood at bblackwood@facs.org