2021 ACS-AEI Call for Abstracts Closes September 10

The American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institutes program is offering opportunities to present original paper, poster, and innovative techniques presentations at the Annual ACS Surgical Simulation Summit, March 11–13, 2021, in Chicago, IL. The abstract submission deadline is 11:59 pm (Central) on Thursday, September 10, 2020.

The Program Review Committee will review submitted abstracts and make decisions regarding their selections for original paper, poster, or innovative techniques presentations. All consortium abstract submissions must be from original research, not previously published or presented. Submitters are required to confirm the originality of their research in order to complete an abstract submission. It is also expected that all work submitted and accepted will be presented at the Annual Surgical Simulation Summit.

Please note: All authors on your abstract submission must fill out a disclosure form by the September 10, 2020, (11:59 pm Central) deadline in order for the abstract submission to be complete. All abstracts selected for original paper presentations will require those authors to submit their manuscripts (due by Friday, February 26, 2021) before the Annual ACS Surgical Simulation Summit. This guideline will allow for the moderator of the paper session and the discussant of an original paper presentation to become familiar with the research being presented before the meeting. Presenting authors will be notified of the Program Review Committee’s decision by Friday, December 11.

Original paper abstracts should present results of original research in:

• Simulation-based surgical education
  OR
• Implementation of innovative simulation-based surgical education methods

Topics may include:

• Curriculum development
• Teaching methods
• Learner evaluations
• Program evaluations
• Patient safety
• Surgical outcomes

Both quantitative and qualitative research will be considered. Evaluation criteria include:

• Quality and originality
• Potential significance to educational theory or application to health services management, policy, or clinical practice
• Timeliness
• Clarity of writing and presentation
• Completed or nearly completed research
• Relevance

For original papers, abstracts that do not describe research methods and present study results will not be considered for presentation. Statements such as “data will be presented” or “results will be shown” should not be included in submitted abstracts. Abstracts should include only generic names, which should be written in lowercase letters.

This category targets descriptions of innovative simulators, curricula, and technology for teaching and assessment. Works in progress, research ideas for collaboration, or those abstracts without significant outcomes data will be considered. Work-in-progress presentations may include pilot studies and preliminary work in simulation-based surgical education. Those abstracts selected for oral presentation from this category are not required to submit a full-length manuscript for Surgery.

Authors whose abstracts are accepted for original paper presentations are required to submit a full-length manuscript (due February 26, 2021) for consideration by Surgery. If your manuscript is selected by James R. Korndorffer, Jr., MD, MHPE, FACS, Conference Recorder, and Melissa Gesbeck, PhD, Managing Editor, you will be invited to submit it for possible inclusion as part of the collection of selected manuscripts from the 2021 Annual ACS Surgical Simulation Summit, which will be sent to the editors-in-chief of Surgery for consideration for possible publication.

An abstracts FAQ document is available.