The abstract for an article submitted to a clinical or academic journal often gets little attention in the manuscript preparation process. The abstract serves multiple purposes in scholarly work dissemination, including the one piece of information reviewers have to invite presenters to professional conferences. Therefore, the abstract can be the most important and should be the most powerful 150-250 words written by authors of scholarly work. This brief for healthcare practitioners, junior faculty, and students provides general comments, details, nuances and tips and explains the various uses of the abstract for publications and presentations in the healthcare field.