Roles and Responsibilities of Program Administrators as Perceived by Physical Therapist Program Administrators and Faculty

Abstract

Background and Purpose. The administrator is an essential component of all physical therapist education programs, yet it has received little research attention. The purpose of this study was to determine the roles and responsibilities of the physical therapist administrator as perceived by administrators and teaching faculty in accredited entry-level physical therapist programs. Subjects. There were 96 administrators and 538 teaching faculty who responded and qualified for inclusion in this study. Method. A survey consisting of 45 typical roles a department chair might perform was mailed to all physical therapist faculty and administrators in the United States. The data were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics and analyses of variance with post hoc tests where appropriate. Results. The results of this study indicate that physical therapist administrators tend to be older and more experienced, carry higher rank, and do less clinical practice than teaching faculty. The most important roles selected by administrators and teaching faculty included acting as faculty advocate to higher administration, monitoring accreditation standards, evaluating faculty performance to determine raises, and preparing the physical therapist department budget. The least important roles that were common among teaching faculty and administrators included helping students register, monitoring building maintenance, scheduling classes, and selecting new physical therapist students. Discussion and Conclusion. Program administrators and teaching faculty shared a great deal of unanimity regarding the perceived importance of the department chair roles. Important roles of the department chair tended to focus on faculty and department administration, whereas least important roles tended to focus on the student. Gender, years of experience, size of the academic unit, and department chair selection did not affect the views regarding the importance of the department chair roles. Key Words: Administrator role, Departmental chairs (universities), Physical therapy education. INTRODUCTION Physical therapist education is a relatively young profession. In general, physical therapist programs did not shift from hospitals to universities until the 1950s. As health care has changed over time, so has physical therapy education. Physical therapist education programs differ from traditional academic programs in that they must unite broad academic requirements for educational degrees with changing professional standards to improve the quality of health care. These changes continually prompt physical therapist education faculty to keep current in their teaching skills and practice areas. The primary accrediting body for all physical therapist programs, the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), initiates new requirements to ensure quality education. Firstlevel unit administrators such as department chairs or directors (hereafter called program administrators) are typically given the responsibility to implement these changes into the physical therapist curriculum. Most physical therapist administrators have come from the clinical health care selling and have worked their way up from teachers to administrators. Few have had any formal training in administration. This lack of training can lead to role uncertainty, which results in increased anxiety, stress, and burnout. Despite the importance of the administrator to physical therapist education, this position has received little research attention. The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of selected roles and responsibilities a physical therapist administrator might perform as perceived by physical therapist administrators and teaching faculty in accredited entry-level physical therapist programs. There were 2 research questions: (1) What are the most and least important roles and responsibilities of the physical therapist administrator as perceived by physical therapist administrators and teaching faculty? …