How to write your abstract

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How to write your abstract

• Fiona Moss
• Duncan Neuhauser

Paris 2008
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Background

• There is a lot of good QI work out there
• It should be shared/communicated
• Writing is way of communication and
• Publication would help others
• Many people get stuck with writing
• Formats in journals often unhelpful
• Two editors who want to help.

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Aims of this session

• To show that writing can help your thinking
• Learn how to translate your achievements into
  words
• And perhaps show that writing can be fun

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Objectives of this Session

• To learn a process for writing about your work
• To start to write an abstract about your work
• To encourage you to finish it and write more

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Format of this seminar

• Practical
• Informal
• Interactive session
• BRIEF!!

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Why bother to write well?

• To communicate your work well
• With clarity and accuracy of your message
• To engage and stimulate your readers
• To help you reflect on your work
• Because it can be enjoyable and satisfying

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Reasons for not writing

• Difficulty knowing where to start
• Not knowing how to start
• Anxiety about writing skills
• Lack of confidence no assessment of writing
  skills on health related courses
• Writing is a gift
• Etc, etc.....

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Getting down to writing

• Story
• Structure
• (Style)

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Your story

• Recall a quality improvement work/project of
  your own that you would like to share
• Something as near finished as possible
• Describe it by writing about it in a just
  paragraph or two.
• Get it down to its basics bullets points OK
  here

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Now just who is this story for?

• READERS.
• So.
• Who are these readers???

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Who are your potential readers?

• Editors?
• Reviewers?
• Not primarily..
• Who do you want to know about your work?

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Who are your readers?

• Director of nursing/medical director/CEO??
• Colleagues/peers - doctor/nurse/therapist
• Your boss, your team, your students
• Your funding agency
• Your clients/local population
• Etc

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Now tell your story to a reader

• In pairs read your description of your QI work
  and ask your colleague to report

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Now for the readers

• Listen
• Do you understand what the storyis?
• What is missing that would help you understand?
• What are the questions? Ask!
• Can you work out the main messages?

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Now for the writers to know and to note

• What do readers need to know?
• What do they understand by what you have written?
  
• What do they think is missing?
• Write it down!.

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Now for the readers

• Play back what you have heard and understood.
• What is the story?
• What is the headline?

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You should write for your readers as they are
your customers!
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Now writers revise your paragraphs

• In the light of the input from your reader
• Take that headline and work with it
• Revise your brief description of your quality
  improvement work
• Make sure that you make the main messages clear.

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Quality improvement papers using a structure

• Structure can help the process of writing
• Essential for some journals
• Ensure that use the structure appropriate for the
  journal and article type
• Otherwise, useful as an aide memoir

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Quality improvement papers using a structure

• Structure provides a logical sequence
• Contains the story within it
• Setting objectives for the paper is important
• Continuity between sections is important
• Link back to objectives throughout
• End should connect with beginning ie discussion
  must relate to introduction

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Quality improvement papers finding a structure

• Standard structure for research papers . IMRaD
• Introduction/Methods/Results and/Discussion
• Perhaps not very helpful for QI work
• QIR structure should reflect
• cyclical nature of QI
• process of change and re-assessment
• describe lessons

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Structure for quality improvement reports

• The context
• Outline of problem (patient centred)
• Key measures of improvement
• Assessment - methods result of assessment
• Strategy for change
• Effects of change - reassessment
• Next steps - lessons learnt - message

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Now write that abstract

• Use the 2 paragraphs you wrote about your
  quality improvement report , remember the input
  from your reader
• Revise it using the structure provided

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Your structured abstract

• Does this help?
• Could you convey your messages using this
  structure?
• What are the problems?
• Could you write your story for your reader?

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Publishing QI work
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What type of paper reflects your work?

• A quality improvement report?
• A research paper?
• A review?
• A How To Do It?
• An opinion/view point?
• A letter?
• .etc etc etc .....

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Quality improvement reports

• Not necessarily completely original
• Must have a message for others
• Be explicit about context
• If change has occurred - how did you manage it
  and sustain it ?
• Organisational changes - important
• Interpersonal interactions - important
• Real message may lie in difficulties
• Progress may not be linear
• Be clear about messages

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Quality improvement reports check essentials?

• Is it about improving the quality of care?
• Does it have a message relevant to improving the
  quality or safety of patient care?
• Does it describe changes that improve patient
  care? Is the evidence robust?
• Is the message generalisable? What is in it for
  others to learn?

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Thank you

• Good luck!