How to write an abstract

1
How to write an abstract

• An abstract is a summary of the information that
  is to be presented in an oral presentation or
  poster
• 300 words or less
• Single paragraph

2
Elements of an Abstract

• Scientific
• Hypothesis/objective
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusions

• Clinical/Management
• Problem/event
• Approach
• Observations
• Conclusions

3
Title

• Should convey the subject
• Concise
• 20 words or less
• __________________________________

• Using a Floater Team to Perform the Duties of
  Absent Employees

4
Hypothesis/Problem

• Approximately 1-3 sentences describing the
  problem
• --------------------------------------------------
  -------

• Employee absences are a common occurrence in any
  organization. An absence can be short term, like
  a vacation or illness, or a long-term absence
  such as a termination or resignation. A
  resultant problem encountered in large, animal
  husbandry programs is how to ensure that an
  employees animal care duties are performed
  during their absence. Each day a given amount of
  labor must be performed. If an employee is
  absent, other employees must work overtime to
  accomplish all tasks for the day.

5
Methods/Approach

• Animal numbers, analytical techniques,
  statistical methods
• Administrative methods, diagnostics
• --------------------------------------------------
  -------------------------------

• Our supervisory staff created a team of
  employees, designated the Floater Team (FT),
  responsible for performing the duties of absent
  employees. FT members were selected from the pool
  of animal care technicians. All were highly
  motivated and had either worked or been trained
  in all animal areas and species for which they
  might have to provide care. Each day, the FT
  supervisor compiled the list of absences and
  distributed the available labor from the FT to
  ensure the duties of all absent employees were
  performed. (Continued)

6
Methods/Approach

• Animal numbers, analytical techniques,
  statistical methods
• Administrative methods, diagnostics
• --------------------------------------------------
  -------------------------------

• To evaluate the success of the FT, we compared
  the amount of employee overtime during periods
  when there was a full FT versus times when fewer
  FT members were available. Three, two week pay
  periods were examined for each case.

7
Results/Observations

• Consists of data, findings, objective
  observations, measurements
• --------------------------------------------------
  -----------------------
• The average overtime recorded with a full FT was
  25.4 hours per pay period. In contrast, 43.9
  hours of overtime per pay period were recorded
  with a reduced or no FT. An added benefit noted
  was that floaters provided a fresh viewpoint and
  could identify potential deficiencies in a room,
  well before they became regulatory issues. Extra
  floaters also were assigned to help Supervisors
  with their husbandry duties allowing additional
  time to be spent on administrative tasks.

8
Conclusions

• Do not restate the results
• --------------------------------------------------
  ---------
• Our results indicate that a FT was an effective
  means to ensure that employees duties were
  performed during absences while simultaneously
  reducing overtime costs. The workloads, overtime
  paid and, most importantly, the stress levels of
  co-workers were all reduced by the efforts of the
  Floater Team.