Introduction. Clinical education is of broad and current interest topic in physical therapist (PT) education today. The director of clinical education (DCE) is the core faculty member responsible for the components of the clinical education (CE) curriculum. Previous work has questioned whether the position would be a “dinosaur or a rising phoenix”. The objectives of this study was to comprehensively examine the full scope of the role and responsibilities of the DCE. Methods. A non-experimental, qualitative descriptive study design was used. A constructivist theoretical framework guided the work. Eleven teams of DCEs and program directors (PD) participated in semi-structured interviews. Onsite interviews were conducted by trained interviewers and transcribed verbatim for analysis. A process of thematic analysis was used to develop results. Results. Five themes and 19 subthemes were developed. The DCE was shown to be a value-added position in professional physical therapist programs, whose role and responsibilities are responsive to both internal and external factors to the academy. There is an evolutionary process to the development of a DCE within the academy. A common vision was shared by DCEs and PDs about the future direction of the DCE in today's clinical education marketplace. Discussion. The DCE is a central player in moving academic physical therapist education forward. The patterns of current DCE practice may shed light on plausible reasons for challenges association with the CE atmosphere. Study limitations could include interview bias and bias in analysis. Conclusion. The contemporary role and responsibilities of the DCE were identified, with recommendations for additional studies to enhance the understanding of the DCE in today's academic and clinical environment.

Background. From the 2014 Clinical Education Summit, recommendations were made to strengthen physical therapist (PT) clinical education (CE). The Director of Clinical Education (DCE) is a key stakeholder in PT CE, and the roles and responsibilities of this position have come under review yet again. An investigation of this primary stakeholder is in alignment with the Summit's strategic plan and needed response to current inquiries. Objectives. To further the work of the study by McCallum et al 6 , the purpose of this study was to investigate and determine the evolution of DCE's roles and responsibilities, with the hypothesis that a new taxonomy would emerge, reflecting a distribution of responsibilities that would guide current and future roles of the DCE. Design. This study used a nonexperimental, descriptive, qualitative approach with a constructivist theoretical framework. Methods: The data set from the study by McCallum et al produced five primary themes. The fifth theme, studied in this report, produced three subthemes—improve efficiencies of systems, optimize clinical teaching, and collaboration with translational research. Watts' Taxonomy, as a foundational, theoretical construct, was the basis for the thematic analysis of these subthemes. Results. The development of an innovative DCE taxonomy with three responsibility levels—Processor, Coordinator, and Director emerged from the analysis of the fifth primary theme. Conclusions. Using the DCE taxonomy, DCE's roles and responsibilities matrix illustrates the importance of fitting tasks to the corresponding DCE's role and responsibility. The matrix shows how delegation of routine DCE tasks can promote the DCE's ability to engage in tasks higher in the taxonomy. This can lead to effective delivery of CE and DCE's engagement in strategic leadership in guiding the future direction of the CE aspect of the PT program.

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