Christoph von Dach

Lecturer at Bern University of Applied Science, Switzerland | Honorary Lecturer Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, United Kingdom | Nurse Consultant Solothurner Spitäler AG | Switzerland

Dr Christoph von Dach works at the Bern University of Applied Science, Switzerland as lecturer and at the Solothurner Spitäler AG (soH), Switzerland as nurse consultant. At the university of Applied Science Bern, Switzerland his main focus is is on advanced nursing practice.  He has worked as a professional in nursing his whole career. His specializations are in the fields of oncology, palliative care, spirituality in nursing and clinical leadership.

At the Solothurner Spitäler AG he provides the implementation of person-centred culture at the nursing division. Therefore, he is also part of the German spoken steering committee to provide the translation and the cultural adaption of the PCP Framework (McCormack and McCance, 2017) and other key contents of person-centred care into German language. Before he started his Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) education, he worked for 22 years as a nursing director in a hospital for oncology (Lukas Klinik, Arlesheim, Switzerland). After that, he changed to the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. In this new position, he had worked firstly as a project manager to implement an interprofessional palliative care consultation service for the hospital. After that he was responsible for the practice development in nursing as head of practice development. The responsibility included the development of clinical nursing in the different fields and specialties of a university hospital, the implementation of evidence into practice, the creation and evaluation of clinical guidelines and the development of new nursing roles.

At the Solothurner Spitäler AG he acted as deputy director of nursing and head of practice development for the hospital group. In this position, he led the practice development unit. Practice development in Switzerland involves:

• Implementing evidence into practice

• Clinical leadership

• Developing clinical nursing

• Developing new roles

• Creating and evaluating clinical guidelines for our hospital

• Providing clinical research

• National and international networking

Especially in the Solothurner Spitäler AG this included also the implementation of a person-centered culture in nursing.

Currently he changed his main focus to the university, to develop the nursing profession more and more into a professional person-centred practice.