Institut für Pflegewissenschaft
Dietmar Ausserhofer, MNS
Research assistent
Bernoullistrasse 28
CH-4056 Basel
Tel. +41 (0)61 267 09 54
Fax +41 (0)61 267 09 55
dietmar.ausserhofer@unibas.ch
www.nursing.unibas.ch
Mrs. Yvonne Guggenheim
PhD Commission
Faculty of Medicine, University Basel
Klingelbergstr. 61
CH - 4056 Basel
Basel, 21st June 2011
Progress Report Dietmar Ausserhofer, PhD Student at Institute of Nursing Science, (INS), University
of Basel, Evaluation of the 2nd year
Dear members of the PhD-commission
With the academic year 2009/2010 I started my PhD studies at the Institute of Nursing Science (INS) of
the University of Basel. At their first meeting on 14th June 2010 the doctoral committee agreed with me to
continue the PhD study.
At the second annual meeting the doctoral committee discussed with me the progress of my PhD study
based on the student’s self-assessment and the PhD timeplan / PhD-Portfolio (see attachment).
Now, I would like to review and summarize the major achievements and experiences of my second year
at the INS and working on my PhD studies on “The relationship between patient safety climate and
healthcare-associated infections”, a substudy of the Swiss arm of the EU funded international RN4CAST
(Nurse forecasting: Human resources planning in nursing) study.
Please find below my activities related to research, project management and leadership, methodological
research training and education / teaching from June 2010 – May 2011 as well as my aims / planned
activities for the next year.
Research
Activities

Performing independently statistical analysis (e. g. confirmatory factor analysis) for my dissertation
project and discussing analyses / results with statistical experts.
Institut für Pflegewissenschaft

Writing and submitting 2 publications on the results of my sub-study according to the publication
plan: (1) Psychometric properties of the Safety Organizing Scale (submitted to International Journal
for Quality in Health Care) and (2) Patient safety climate of Swiss hospitals (submitted to Swiss
Medical Weekly).
Aims:
 Finalizing and submitting the next 2 publications of my dissertation project: (1) The relationship
between patient safety climate and healthcare-associated infections, (2) Providing evidence based on
content for a safety culture in hospital measure through the use of the content validity index.

To deepen my knowledge on statistics and research methods, including prospective studies and
longitudinal data by attending further courses.

Improving skills in terms of dissemination / communication of study findings, especially in dealing
with the media by e.g. attending a media training workshop at the Swiss School of Public Health
Project management and leadership
Activities:
 Preparing the descriptive reports on the collected data for the 35 Swiss hospitals (Benchmarking) and
organisation / planning translation and dissemination of the reports to the participating hospitals
 Being involved in the organisation of the national RN4CAST stakeholder meetings
Aims:
 Being involved in the organisation of the international RN4CAST conferences in fall 2012 (e.g.
funding, congress program, etc.)
Training in research methods:
Activities:
 5th INS summer school on systematic review & meta analysis (August 16 – 20, 2010)
 Doctoral seminar at the INS
 Statistic V course on structural equation modelling, confirmatory factor analysis at the Faculty of
psychology, University Basel – Fall semester 2010
 SSPH+ - PhD-course: Multilevel modelling: Analysis of clustered data (November 3-5, 2010)
 SSPH+ - PhD-course: Statistical methods and handling on confounding and interactions in
epidemiologic studies (February 2-4, 2011)
Aims:
 6th INS summer school on “Applied Patient Safety –real data, real tools, real solutions” (August 15 –
19, 2011)
 Intensive Advanced Writing Workshop – University hospital Basel (August 22 – 26, 2011)
 SSPH+ - PhD-course: Quality and safety in healthcare (September 21 – 23, 2011)
 SSPH+ - PhD-course: Media training workshop: Communication Skills (October 17 – 18, 2011)
 Statistic VI course on regression and discriminant analysis at the Faculty of psychology, University
Basel – Fall semester 2011
 Doctoral seminars at the INS (Fall semester 2011 and spring semester 2012)
Continuing education
Activities:
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
Presenting first results of the RN4CAT study at the congress of the Swiss Nurse Directors
Association (Bern, October 21/22, 2010).
Aims:
 Attending and presenting on 1-2 international congresses on patient safety and quality of care (e.g.
Poster accepted for presentation at the international conference of the Swiss foundation for patient
safety, fall 2011)
 Short study visit at the “Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care”, Johns Hopkins University –
(1-2 weeks, December 2011)
Education / Teaching skills
Activities
 Teaching assistant and giving lectures in the “Scientific writing” course led by Dr. C. Abderhalden,
the “Philosophy of science” course led by Dr. E. Cignacco and the “Patient safety and quality”
course led by Dr. M. Schubert in the INS’s Bachelor and Master program.
Aims
 Developing a “teaching routine” by keep staying in the courses mentioned above
 Didactic training activities at the University of Basel (fall 2011 – spring 2012)
Feedback from the doctoral committee
Prof. Dr. Sabina DeGeest : I have observed an impressive development in Dietmar Ausserhofer's
scientific development in the 2nd year of his PhD. It is obvious that he has much potential for further
scientific growth. He has achieved the planned milestones for his 2nd year within the schedule time
frame. Dietmar is a PhD student who combines maturity with excellent human relation skills and is an
asset for our organization in many respects. I wish him a good continuation of his PhD and a wonderful
marriage Oct 1st!
Dr. René Schwendimann: It is my great pleasure as advisor to comment on Dietmar’s PhD study
progress and to confirm that he has successfully achieved the objectives of his second study year. As the
PhD commission can easily infer from his self assessment his second study year was characterized by a
full load of activities in research, project management, and education. From my perspective Dietmar has
clearly proven his ability to handle a huge workload in terms of conducting research within the
RN4CAST project including data management, performing uni- to multi level data analysis, reporting and
dissemination of findings on meetings with mixed audiences. This set of competencies have been
achieved due to his careful planning, participation and successful completion of various research methods
courses aligned to the project and beyond. Furthermore, Dietmar assisted in two semester courses in
lecturing including reviewing and grading of students’ paper works. Dietmar is a highly motivated PhD
student and has become an esteemed colleague within the RN4CAST research group as well as valuable
supporter of the INS mission. I very much appreciate he’s personal integrity, he’s grown skill set as a
researcher and he’s professional attitude to share with and support colleagues, peer’s and other students in
their work and progression. In summary I recommend to let Dietmar “pass” his second PhD study year.
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Finally I wish Dietmar the very best in completing his PhD studies until summer 2012 and I have no
doubt on he’s capabilities to reach this next milestone of he’s career.
Prof. Dr. Mary Blegen : It is with pleasure that I have observed and assisted the excellent work that
Dietmar Ausserhofer has done in his doctoral studies. He has met and exceeded the objectives he set for
his first and second year of study and is now poised to complete the work for his dissertation in his third
year. His scholarliness and ability to focus are apparent as is his intellect and devotion to this work. Best
wishes for similar successes in the coming year.
Please find in the attached files a detailed reflection on my learning processes according to the
standardized PhD portfolio document of the INS and my PhD-time plan / portfolio. As you can see, I am
fully in line with the planned time plan. Therefore the conclusion of my dissertation is planned for June
2012.
Yours sincerely,
Dietmar Ausserhofer, MNS
Attachments: mentioned
CC:
Dr. R. Schwendimann
Prof. Dr. S. De Geest
Prof. Dr. M. Blegen
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SECOND YEAR ASSESSMENT: Sheet for the annual PhD committee meeting.
Participants: Prof. Sabina DeGeest; Prof. Mary Blegen; Dr. René Schwendimann.
Doctoral student: Dietmar Ausserhofer
Second year assessment
PhD proposal to the PhD-committee of the Faculty of Medicine
After the agreement between the supervisor and the PhD candidate to start the work on the PhD project,
he will usually elaborate a research proposal. This proposal is normally submitted to the PhD-committee
of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Basel as a prerequisite for being accepted as a PhD
student by the respective University. Based on this initial work and a self-assessment by the PhD student
a fist year assessment will be carried out by the PhD committee. A decision about continuation of the
PhD project will be taken.
Date of acceptance (PhD commission): July 4th, 2009.
First year assessment by the members of the doctoral PhD-committee
The PhD-committee and the student have met for their first annual meeting on June 14th and discussed
the progress of the PhD study based on the student’s self-assessment. At the first meeting of the doctoral
committee it has been agreed with the student to continue the PhD study.
Date of acceptance (PhD commission): July 1st, 2010.
Assessment by the members of the doctoral PhD-committee
The student provides a written statement, which includes current achievements and next steps by
answering the following questions:
Annex: Updated PhD time plane and PhD activities.
Current achievements
Which experiences improved your competencies?
At the INS, I was able to expand my professional competencies and capacity for the academic work (e.g.
performing research, teaching and reviewing manuscripts/proposals) due to the inspiring work
environment and collaboration with experienced senior researchers including visiting professors.
Project management and leadership skills
I’ve developed self-confidence as a fellow and manager within a research organisation by:
o Being fully integrated into the RN4CAST project and being given the opportunity to take
responsibility on major parts of the study (e.g. data analysis, preparing and writing the hospital
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report, preparing presentations on study results)
o Being involved in the organisation of meetings and conferences (e.g. the national RN4CAST
stakeholder meetings and the international conference in 2012)
Advanced research skills
I am able to develop own original papers and to support peers, as I,
o Reviewed and processed quiet a volume of scientific literature regarding patient safety and quality of
care in general and of patient safety culture in particular as for the introduction and discussion
sections of my dissertation.
o Discussed on content (clinical) and methodological issues with peers, senior researcher and visiting
professors from the U.S.
o Developed specific research aims, questions and hypothesis for my manuscripts
o Gained experience in presenting results from own statistical analyses into tables and figures and
describing and discussing findings (numbers) in a narrative way
o Provided critical feedback to study proposals of peers and senior colleagues (e.g SHURP)
o Reviewed manuscripts for the International Journal for Quality in Health Care, Swiss Medical
Weekly and Health Policy (with feedback from Prof. Sabina De Geest)
o “(Co)-Supervised” a Master-student and a collaborator in writing their thesis, and journal
manuscript respectively
I am able to use advanced statistical methods to test psychometric properties of measurement
instruments and to clarify associations between study variables, as I,
o Attended and successfully completed methodological and statistical training courses (e.g. SSPH
course on “Analyses of clustered data: multilevel modelling”)
o Read books and scientific literature on statistical methods (e.g. data analysis using Mplus)
o Controlled and cleaned data on the RN4CAST study to guarantee data quality
o Performed independently statistical analysis within my field of research, discussed and reported
analyses / results with experts (e.g. with Dr. Tracy Glass, Biostatistician at the STPH Institute)
Education / Teaching skills
I am able to communicate study findings and implications for practice / research and to translate
these implications to a broader audience, as I,
o Actively participate in teaching as an assistant within the INS Bachelor and Master’s study program
(e.g. lecturing in the courses “Scientific writing” and “Patient safety and quality of car”)
o Presented multiple times on study projects (e.g RN4CAST study at the Congress of the Swiss Nurse
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Director Association)
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“Soft” skills
After two years of work experience, I feel fully integrated into the Swiss- and the INS-culture/system. I’ve
learned on how to perform on high workloads and fast workplace while keeping my work-life balance.
The most important thing for high performance revealed for me having a stable social environment and
friendships. Particularly, my girlfriend was the most important contributory factor for achieving
psychological and emotional stability. This was an additional reason that I decided to marry her
(October 1st, 2011).
Which experiences improved your competencies to conduct research?
In summary, I think that all above mentioned experiences contributed to my professional abilities to
conduct research, as they allowed me to grow on a professional and personal level.
Which gaps do you identify, which are relevant for your PhD studies?
Research oriented: Statistics and research methods concerning prospective studies, language- speaking
(sometimes speaking French would be helpful) and dissemination/communication of findings e.g.
dealing with the media.
Project management oriented: Methodological knowledge about optimal project planning, to be able to
plan and lead future projects in an efficient and effective way.
Health care oriented: To be involved in discussion about future trends in healthcare, patient safety and
quality of care including policy and public health level.
Which tasks are you involved in (e.g. teaching assignments) or would you like to be involved in the
near future?
I’m happy to be involved as a teaching assistant in the scientific writing course, the patient safety course
and in the research course (introduction into philosophy of science). I would like to further develop my
teaching skills to be prepared to take more responsibilities in the upcoming year.
I would like to assist / and (co-) mentor student’s in their master thesis.
Next steps: timeline and a plan for achieving competencies needed for the PhD, for obtaining support
and for completing the research project
What additional competencies do you need to acquire at the present stage?
All the above mentioned competencies should get strengthened, by attending additional courses such as
in statistics; writing workshops, media and didactic training.
Develop specific, measurable action steps, which go beyond a list of planned courses: For example:
write a data analysis plan, or a plan with whom you will discuss your article draft at what stage (peers,
supervisors, other experts). Set the date for the next PhD committee meetings.

Data analysis plan is developed in the research proposal and analysis are completed at this
stage
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
Monthly meetings (so called “PhD updates”) are held with Dr. Renè Schwendimann to discuss
the PhD process in general and specific topics (e.g. manuscripts).

Asking experts as Prof. Blegen to review my manuscripts before submission and offering coauthorship.

Participating in the doctoral seminar every semester as peer review for manuscripts at the
beginning of the writing (first- second draft) and the introduction/discussion section of PhD
thesis

Attending conferences on patient safety and quality of care to meet experts for networking and
to exchange knowledge at the national and international level.

Attending international summer schools to extend international network with peers.
o Set forth a timeline and a plan for your research project
2011
June

PhD-committee meeting (Determining referent and co-referent for PhD-thesis)

Finalizing the 3rd and 4th manuscript
July

Submission of the 3rd manuscript

Vacation (2 weeks)

Optional: Revisions of the submitted papers based on the peer-review
August

Submission of the 4th manuscript

6th INS Summer School (“Applied Patient Safety - real data, real tools, real solutions”)

Writing first draft on the introduction section of the PhD-thesis
September

Presentation of the introduction section at the doctoral seminar and feedback from the PhDcommittee

Optional: Revisions of the submitted papers based on the peer-review
October - November

Vacation (1 week – marriage)

Finalizing introduction section and writing first draft on the discussion section of the PhD-thesis

Poster-presentation at the international congress of the Swiss patient safety foundation, Basel
(CH)
December
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
Feedback on the discussion section of the PhD thesis from the PhD-committee

Optional: Revisions of the submitted papers based on the peer-review
2012
January

Finalizing the discussion section and the whole PhD-thesis

Study visit (1-2 weeks) at John Hopkins university (needs to be planned)
February - April

Submission and evaluation of the PhD-thesis by referent and co-referent

Final steps in organizing conclusion of the PhD studies

Optional: Revisions of the submitted papers based on the peer-review for evaluation

Organizing the PhD defence
June

DEFENSE (tentative dates: June 15 or 22)
Decision of the doctoral PhD-committee
o Continuation / Interruption:
o Signature student:
o Signature supervisor:
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Time plan / PhD-Portfolio (Planned Publications, Professional Training, and Teaching) 2009-2012,
Dietmar Ausserhofer
2009
General Overview
Q3
Q4
2010
Q1
Q2
Q3
2011
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
M1
M2
M3
2012
Q4
Q1
Q2
Step 1: Research proposal on “Patient Safety climate and
healthcare associated infections (PaSaI)“
Step 2: Data Collection & Data Management work
(RN4CAST)
Step 3: Data entry, controlling, cleaning & analysis
(RN4CAST / PaSaI)
Step 4: Elaboration of results: Addressing results, synthesis
of results, publication work (PaSaI)
Step 5: Finalization of the thesis (PaSaI)
M4
Time plan after first year (June 2010)
M1
Submission “Manuscript 1”
M3
Submission “Manuscript 3 and 4”
Time plan after second year (June 2011)
M2
Submission “Manuscript 2”
M4
Doctoral defense
Basel, 21.06.2011
Q3
Q4
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Detailed Plan of PhD Thesis Work
Time Plan
Work unit/ Activities
Current State/ Goals
Step 1: Research Proposal
June 2009- July 2009
Aug 2009- Feb 2010
Systematic search on organizational, unit and clinician factors
that impact the occurrence of adverse events, especially
healthcare associated infections
To get expertise on the topic
Finalization of the research proposal (Methodology)
Discussion of the proposal at the INS doctoral
seminar (Nov. 2009)
Development of the first draft of the research
proposal for the official registration of the university
Step 2: Data Collection and Data Management
Nov 2009 – May 2010
Data collection of the RN4CAST study (Organization of the
questionnaires, response rate control, coordination of the data
scanning)
Step 3: Data controlling, cleaning & analysis
Responsibility for Italian speaking Switzerland, and
co-responsibility in German- & French-speaking
include in total 35 hospitals (1500 To guarantee
accurate data collection and data management.
June 2010 – July 2010
Data controlling and cleaning
To guarantee accurate data quality and multivariate
analysis.
July 2010 - July 2011
Data analysis according to the plan of the research proposal
To perform descriptive statistic, psychometrical
testing and multivariable regression analysis
Step 4: Addressing results, synthesis of results
Sep 2010- Dec 2011
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Tying work together, summarize and discuss the different
findings
Manuscript completing and submission to scientific
journals
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Step 5: Completion of thesis and thesis exam
Jan. – Mar. 2012
Writing of the introduction, the discussion of the thesis and last
chapters of the dissertation
Submit dissertation to referent and co-referent.
Apr. – June 2012
Finalizing the entire tasks of the PhD demands.
Defense of the dissertation
Approval of dissertation
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Publication plan
Publications
Title
Submission to Journal
Current State
1
Validation of the German, Italian and French version of the
Safety Organizing Scale (SOS)
International Journal for
Quality in Health Care
(Impact Factor: 1.881)
Submitted
2
Patient safety climate in Swiss hospitals – Are there any
Swiss medical weekly
differences between type of hospital, type of ward and language
(IF: 1.618)
region?
3
The relationship between patient safety climate and healthcareassociated infections in acute care hospitals
4
Providing evidence based on content for a safety culture in
hospital measure through the use of the Content Validity Index
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International Journal of
Nursing Studies (IJNS)
(IF: 2.310) or Journal of
Nursing Care Quality (IF:
0.784)
Pflege – Die
wissenschaftliche
Zeitschrift für
Pflegeberufe (IF: listed
since 2008)
Submitted
Development (1. draft
available)
Final approval from coauthors
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Professional Training during PhD
Methodological research training
Doctoral Seminars at the INS
Credits
Points*
2/Semester
Date/ Current State
Certificate
From HS 2009- FS 2012
Yes
4th INS Summer School “Measurement in Health Care Research” (Jerilyn
K. Allen, ScD RN and Miyong Kim, PhD, RN)
2
17. - 21.08.2009
Yes
Statistics III (ANOVA, MANOVA, ANCOVA) – University of Basel,
Faculty of Psychology (Dr. Markus Stöcklin)
4
HS 2009 (Passed)
Yes
Statistics IV (Factor analysis, MDS, Cluster analysis) – University of
Basel, Faculty of Psychology (Dr. Markus Stöcklin)
3
FS 2010
No
1.5
16. - 20.08.2010
Yes
3
HS 2010 (Passed)
Yes
1.5
03. – 05.11.2011
Yes
Statistical methods and handling of confounding and interactions in
epidemiologic studies - Swiss School of Public Health/SSPH (Dr.
Christian Schindler)
1.5
02. – 04.02.2011
Yes
6th INS Summer School “ Applied Patient Safety - real data, real tools,
real solutions“ (Brayn Saxton, PhD, René Schwendimann, PhD, RN)
1.5
15. – 19.08.2011
(upcoming)
Quality and safety in healthcare – Foundation for patient safety Zurich Swiss School of Public Health/SSPH (Dr. David Schwappach)
1.5
21. – 23.09.2011
(upcoming)
5th INS Summer School “Meta-Analysis and Meta-Synthesis in Health
Sciences (Sandra Engberg, PhD, RN, Susan Sereika, PhD, Sally Thorne,
PhD, RN)
Statistics V (Structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis)
– University of Basel, Faculty of Psychology (Dr. Markus Stöcklin)
Analysis of clustered data : multilevel modeling - - Swiss School of
Public Health/SSPH (Dr. Martin Röösli)
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Intensive Advanced Writing Workshop – University Hospital Basel (Dr.
Leslie Nicoll)
15 / 16
3
22. – 26.08.2011
(upcoming)
Media training workshop: Communication Skills - Swiss School of
Public Health/SSPH (Prof. Dr. L. Suzanne Suggs and Dr. Chris
McIntyre)
0.75
17. - 18.10.2011
(upcoming)
Statistics VI (Regression and discriminant analysis) – University of
Basel, Faculty of Psychology (Dr. Markus Stöcklin)
3
HS 2011
(upcoming)
Didactic Training Activities – University of Basel
-
TBD (autumn 2011)
-
Total Credit points
*ECTS (1 CP equals for 25-30 hours student investment time)
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Further academic training
Congress
Date
Comments
Swiss Society for Quality Management in Health Care – Annual Congress Baden
6. Nov 2009
Participant
Patient safety - “Fachsymposium Gesundheit” St. Gallen
20./21. Jan. 2010
Participant
Congress of the nursing management in the hospitals of Sanitas and Zimmerber (Horgen)
29. April 2010
Oral presentation
Annual Congress of the Swiss Nursing directors (SVPL-Congress)
22. Oct. 2010
Oral presentation
Congress of the cantonal nursing management in Jenaz (Graubünden)
24. March 2011
Oral presentation
Patientensicherheit – avanti! Fortschritte!? … im 2. Jahrzehnt des 3. Jahrtausends (Basel)
29./30. November 2011
Abstract accepted for
poster presentation
Study visit at University of California San Francisco (UCSF): Prof. Dr. M. Blegen and
Prof. Dr. N. Donaldson)
01. – 14.05 2010
Letter of “confirmation”
Study visit at Johns Hopkins University
December 2011
(to be planned)
HS 2010
Assistant lecturer
Scientific writing seminar (Literature search, EndNote, correction of the semester thesis) - HS 2010
Semester course
FS 2011
Patient safety and quality course (Patient safety culture, Infection management,
Prevention of patient falls) - Semester course
FS 2011
“Supervision” of Master Student (C. Auer) and collaborator (M.Desmedt)
Assistant lecturer
Further academic training
Teaching
Quantitative methods I (Philosophy of science) - Semester course
Basel, 21.06.2011
Assistant lecturer
Co-promotor