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Clinical services director education requirements
Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
There are several educational requirements to become a clinical services director. Clinical services directors usually study nursing, psychology, or social work. 43% of clinical services directors hold a bachelor's degree, and 25% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 3,470 real clinical services director resumes to see exactly what clinical services director education sections show.
The most common colleges for clinical services directors are the University of Phoenix and the University of Phoenix.
There are also many online clinical services director courses to help get the education required to be a clinical services director.
There are certain clinical services director certifications that you should consider. These clinical services director certifications include Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse (CHPN) and Certified Professional Counselor.
What education do you need to become a clinical services director?
What degree do you need to be a clinical services director?
- Bachelor's, 43%
- Master's, 25%
- Associate, 24%
- Doctorate, 3%
- Other Degrees, 5%
What should I major in to become a clinical services director?
- Nursing, 56%
- Psychology, 9%
- Social Work, 8%
- Business, 6%
- Other Majors, 21%
Most common colleges for clinical services directors
| Clinical services director common college | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of Phoenix | 28.03% |
| Walden University | 6.69% |
| University of South Florida | 5.10% |
| Excelsior College | 4.78% |
| New York University | 4.46% |
Best majors for clinical services directors
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nursing | 55.7% |
| 2 | Psychology | 8.9% |
| 3 | Social Work | 7.8% |
| 4 | Business | 5.6% |
| 5 | Nursing Science | 2.2% |
Best colleges for clinical services directors
The best colleges for clinical services directors are University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University in the City of New York, and Stanford University.
A clinical services director with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for clinical services directors. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become clinical services directors.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-state tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
2. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
In-state tuition
$15,262
Enrollment
30,079
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
In-state tuition
$8,987
Enrollment
18,946
5. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$9,625
Enrollment
17,407
6. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
In-state tuition
$14,760
Enrollment
31,451
7. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
8. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-state tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
9. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
10. University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT • Private
In-state tuition
$15,730
Enrollment
18,830
20 best online courses for clinical services directors
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1. Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Providers
This course is designed with a singular goal: to improve the care you provide to your patients with substance use disorders. By delving into a model case performed by actors, seven Yale instructors from various fields provide techniques to screen your patients for substance use disorder risk, diagnose patients to gauge the severity of their use, directly manage treatment plans, refer out to treatment services, and navigate the various conditions that may limit your patient’s access to treatment...
2. Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
Kidney transplantation is a major advance of modern medicine which provides high-quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease. What used to be an experimental, risky, and very limited treatment option more than 50 years ago is now routinely performed in many countries worldwide. The number of renal transplants is expected to rise sharply in the next decade since the proportion of patients with end stage renal disease is increasing. Are you interested in clinical kidney, pancreas...
3. Basic of Clinical Data Management
Clinical Data Management...
4. The Beginners Course for Clinical Research
The Essentials of Clinical Trials - Clinical Research for Beginners...
5. Prehospital care of acute stroke and patient selection for endovascular treatment using the RACE scale
Acute stroke is a time-dependent medical emergency. In acute ischemic stroke, the first objective is to restore brain flow using sistemic thrombolytic treatment and, in patients with large vessel occlusion, by endovascular treatment. In hemorrhagic stroke there are also specific treatments that can improve the clinical outcome. The sooner the initiation of all these therapies the higher the clinical benefit. Thus, the organization of Stroke Code systems coordinated between emergency medical...
6. Clinical Data Science
Are you interested in how to use data generated by doctors, nurses, and the healthcare system to improve the care of future patients? If so, you may be a future clinical data scientist!\n\nThis specialization provides learners with hands on experience in use of electronic health records and informatics tools to perform clinical data science. This series of six courses is designed to augment learner’s existing skills in statistics and programming to provide examples of specific challenges,...
7. Certificate Course in Clinical Research (CCCR)
A Clinical Research Course-ICH-GCP E6(R2), Clinical Trials, Essential Documents, Sponsor, Investigator, Pharmaceuticals...
8. Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research Professionals
The Complete, Certified ICH GCP (R2 & R3) Course for Investigators, Study Coordinators, Sponsors, Monitors and Study staff...
9. Clinical Natural Language Processing
This course teaches you the fundamentals of clinical natural language processing (NLP). In this course you will learn the basic linguistic principals underlying NLP, as well as how to write regular expressions and handle text data in R. You will also learn practical techniques for text processing to be able to extract information from clinical notes. Finally, you will have a chance to put your skills to the test with a real-world practical application where you develop text processing...
10. Value-Based Care: Managing Processes to Improve Outcomes
COURSE 3 of 7. This course is designed to introduce you to critical office-based processes that a value-based practice must manage in the drive towards improved patient outcomes. In Module 2, we’ll focus on office-based and clinical patient-based supporting functions. At every level in healthcare, guidelines, processes, and functions exist to improve outcomes, and following a consistent process will return the best effect. Refine your understanding of value and learn strategies to provide real...
11. Good Clinical Practice ICH GCP for Clinical Research
Certification on ICH GCP E6 R2 Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research The Only Complete Course You Can Find Online...
12. The Simplest Guide to Clinical Trials Data Analysis with SAS
Step into the world of Pharmaceutical industry Clinical Trials Clinical Research Biostatistics Clinical SAS SAS...
13. Operations and Patient Safety for Healthcare IT Staff
Now that you've been introduced to the world of Health IT and the important role played by electronic health records (EHRs), we'll focus on other technologies that play a role in maintaining ongoing operations in healthcare. Telemedicine, patient portals, barcode scanners, printers, and medical devices are just some of the technologies that impact providers and patients. As an IT support specialist, you’ll be asked to troubleshoot issues with a wide variety of tools. You'll see a scenario with...
14. Introduction to Clinical Data Science
This course will prepare you to complete all parts of the Clinical Data Science Specialization. In this course you will learn how clinical data are generated, the format of these data, and the ethical and legal restrictions on these data. You will also learn enough SQL and R programming skills to be able to complete the entire Specialization - even if you are a beginner programmer. While you are taking this course you will have access to an actual clinical data set and a free, online...
15. Abnormal Behavior & Clinical Psychology (Certificate)
Guiding students into the field of mental health services for either personal and/or professional development...
16. Good Clinical Practice (GCP)
Key features of the GCP guideline, roles and responsibilities involved and the requirements of essential documentation...
17. Informed Clinical Decision Making using Deep Learning
This specialisation is for learners with experience in programming that are interested in expanding their skills in applying deep learning in Electronic Health Records and with a focus on how to translate their models into Clinical Decision Support Systems.\n\nThe main areas that would explore are:\n\nData mining of Clinical Databases: Ethics, MIMIC III database, International Classification of Disease System and definition of common clinical outcomes. Deep learning in Electronic Health...
18. Clinical Trials Operations
This specialization is designed for individuals and teams that will be running or interacting with clinical trials. In four courses, learners will develop insights and build the skills they need to design, manage, and monitor clinical trials as well as analyze, document, and communicate the results. Learners will also learn best practices regarding ethics, safety, participant recruitment, regulatory compliance, and reporting standards. The core principles and skills of the specialization will...
19. Predictive Modeling and Transforming Clinical Practice
This course teaches you the fundamentals of transforming clinical practice using predictive models. This course examines specific challenges and methods of clinical implementation, that clinical data scientists must be aware of when developing their predictive models...
20. HI-FIVE: Health Informatics For Innovation, Value & Enrichment (Clinical Perspective)
HI-FIVE (Health Informatics For Innovation, Value & Enrichment) Training is a 12-hour online course designed by Columbia University in 2016, with sponsorship from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The training is role-based and uses case scenarios. Also, it has additional, optional modules on other topics of interest or relevance. Although we suggest to complete the course within a month's timeframe, the course is self-paced and so you can start and...
Top 10 most affordable universities for clinical services directors
The most affordable schools for clinical services directors are University of Florida, california state university - long beach, and california state university - bakersfield.
If the best universities for clinical services directors are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for clinical services directors.
1. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,381
Cost of attendance
21,034
2. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,798
Cost of attendance
18,306
3. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,309
Cost of attendance
16,714
4. California State University - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,749
Cost of attendance
14,823
5. Baruch College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,262
Cost of attendance
14,046
6. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,182
Cost of attendance
13,998
7. University of South Florida
Tampa, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,410
Cost of attendance
20,456
8. Lehman College of the City University of New York
Bronx, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,210
Cost of attendance
14,359
9. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-state tuition
$5,620
Cost of attendance
18,136
10. California State University - Dominguez Hills
Carson, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,942
Cost of attendance
14,469
Top 10 hardest universities to get into for clinical services directors
The hardest universities for clinical services directors to get into are University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University in the City of New York, and Stanford University.
Some great schools for clinical services directors are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for clinical services directors based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,492
2. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
6%
SAT average
1,512
3. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
Admissions rate
4%
SAT average
1,497
4. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
Admissions rate
9%
SAT average
1,516
5. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions rate
11%
SAT average
1,513
6. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
13%
SAT average
1,445
7. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
Admissions rate
10%
SAT average
1,514
8. Georgetown University
Washington, DC • Private
Admissions rate
15%
SAT average
1,456
9. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,508
10. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
Admissions rate
15%
SAT average
1,506
Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for clinical services directors
The easiest schools for clinical services directors to get into are D'Youville College, mount saint mary's university, and barry university.
Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a clinical services director without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for clinical services directors.
1. D'Youville College
Buffalo, NY • Private
Admissions rate
100%
SAT average
1,072
2. Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
84%
SAT average
1,031
3. Barry University
Miami, FL • Private
Admissions rate
91%
SAT average
1,006
4. Felician University
Lodi, NJ • Private
Admissions rate
81%
SAT average
999
5. University of the Incarnate Word
San Antonio, TX • Private
Admissions rate
88%
SAT average
1,044
6. Presentation College
Aberdeen, SD • Private
Admissions rate
97%
SAT average
1,050
7. Gwynedd Mercy University
Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private
Admissions rate
92%
SAT average
1,031
8. Ursuline College
Pepper Pike, OH • Private
Admissions rate
90%
SAT average
1,102
9. Curry College
Milton, MA • Private
Admissions rate
93%
SAT average
1,026
10. University of Houston - Downtown
Houston, TX • Private
Admissions rate
83%
SAT average
1,012
Average clinical services director salary by education level
| Clinical services director education level | Clinical services director salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $106,775 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $95,512 |
| Doctorate Degree | $123,306 |
| Some College/ Associate Degree | $87,319 |
Clinical services director education FAQs
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Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025