Respiratory Care Director of Clinical Education

Individual must be employed full-time. The length of the full-time appointment (e.g., 9-month, 12-month, Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care [CoARC] Standard 2.02) must be sufficient to allow the Director of Clinical Education time to fulfill their responsibilities as identified in CoARC 2.03 and 2.07, respectively.

POSITION PURPOSE: The Director of Clinical Education (DCE) must be responsible for all aspects of the clinical experiences of students enrolled in the program, including organization, administration, continuous review and revision, planning for and development of locations (with appropriate supervision) for evolving practice skills, and the general effectiveness of the clinical experience. The DCE workload should balance teaching responsibilities with program administration.  There must be evidence that sufficient time is devoted to the program by the DCE so that his or her educational and administrative responsibilities can be met. (CoARC 2.07)

RESPONSIBILITIES
The Director of Clinical Education must be responsible for organization, administration, continuous review, planning, development, and general effectiveness of clinical experiences for students enrolled in the respiratory care program. (CoARC 2.09)

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: (Note: Numerals and section titles correspond to the College’s Generic Program Chair Job Description, and not all sections are referenced in this document, so some numerals are missing by design)

I.    INSTRUCTION  
1.    The DCE must ensure that course content, learning experiences (clinical), and access to learning materials are equivalent for each student regardless of where that experience was acquired.  (CoARC 4.09)
2.    Teaching responsibilities should be balanced with Program administration time. (CoARC 2.07)

 VII.    PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION 
    
1.    Must have regular and consistent contact with students, clinical faculty and clinical affiliates for all program locations.  (CoARC 2.10)
2.    Ensures guidance is available to assist students in understanding of program policies and practices.  (CoARC 1.06)
3.    Coordinates clinical experiences, ensuring learning experiences are consistent regardless of location, and evaluates clinical sites and preceptors suitability as required during rotation experience. (CoARC 4.09)
4.    Continuously reviews and analyzes results of surveys performed on students regarding their clinical experiences.  Works with clinical sites to improve students’ satisfaction and clinical experience.
5.    Maintains consistent and effective process for ongoing evaluation of all clinical sites to ensure that clinical resources and student supervision at each site are sufficient to facilitate achievement of program goals.  (CoARC 3.12)
6.    Ensures students are appropriately supervised at all times during their clinical education coursework and experiences.  Students cannot be used to substitute for clinical, administrative or instructional staff.  Students shall not receive any form of remuneration in exchange for work they perform during clinical coursework.  (CoARC 5.09)
7.    Maintain office administrative hours in accordance with the faculty loading guidelines in ASOM 7.2 – Faculty Job Descriptions and Loading.
8.    Coordinate Clinical Preceptor meetings per regional policy and assure broad-based membership and participatory agendas. These minutes must be maintained for a minimum of five (5) years.  (CoARC 5.13)
9.    Performs Inter-rater reliability assessments on clinical preceptors that reduce inconsistency among individuals who perform evaluations and maintains documentation for accreditation.  (New preceptors’ evaluations must be done within the first year of assignment.  Subsequent evaluations must be conducted as appropriate.)  (CoARC 3.07)
10.     Reviews Inter-rater reliability assessments at least annually, creates an action plan which includes remediation, timeline and follow-up when excessive variability exists amongst evaluators.  (CoARC 3.07)
11.      Ensures students meet all requirements as described in current Affiliation Agreements.

The DCE must:
a)    hold a valid Registered Respiratory Therapy (RRT) credential and current state license;
b)    have a minimum of four (4) years’ experience as a Registered Respiratory Therapist with at least two (2) years in clinical respiratory care;
c)    have a minimum of two (2) years’ experience teaching either as an appointed faculty member in a CoARC-accredited respiratory care program or as a clinical instructor/ preceptor for students of such programs;
d)    complete the CoARC Key Personnel Training Program.

Note: Per CoARC, Directors of Clinical Education appointed to the position after January 1, 2020 must complete the CoARC Key Personnel Academy (KPA), which is available in an online format twi