Clinical officer

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Clinical officer (CO)

Occupation
Names	Clinical Officer (CO) – Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and somalia Assistant Medical Officer (AMO) – Tanzania and Malaysia Medical Licentiate (ML) – Zambia Physician Assistant (PA) – Liberia, Ghana, India, Netherland, Germany, Australia, Canada and The United States (US) Physician Associate (PA) – The United Kingdom (UK) and The United States (US) Integrated Emergency Surgical Officer (IESO) – Ethiopia Clinical Health Officer (CHO) – Somaliland Clinical Associate (CA) – South Africa Community Health Officer (CHO) – Sierra Leone and Nigeria Medical Extension Officer (MEDEX) – Guyana Medical Assistant (MA) – Fiji Sub-Assistant Community Medical Officer (SACMO) – Bangladesh Assistant Doctor (AD) – China and Botswana
Occupation type	Healthcare professional
Activity sectors	Primary care Infection prevention and control Triage Patient safety Emergency medicine Public safety Forensic medicine Medical ethics human rights Reproductive health Mental disorders Patient advocacy Pharmacovigilance Disease surveillance Community diagnosis Contact tracing Immunization Palliative care Clinical nutrition Food safety Pain management Clinical supervision Health Service Management Sanitation Internal medicine Family medicine Geriatrics Paediatrics Neonatology Obstetrics Gynaecology Surgery Orthopaedics Traumatology Oncology Critical care medicine Gastroenterology Toxicology Nephrology Anaesthesiology Otolaryngology Ophthalmology Dentistry Neurology Radiology Psychiatry Dermatology Venereology Respiratory medicine Cardiovascular medicine Haematology Transfusion medicine Tropical medicine Community health Environmental health Rural health Epidemiology Occupational medicine Clinical pharmacology Therapeutics Human anatomy Medical physiology Medical biochemistry Molecular biology Cellular biology Medical genetics Pathology Medical microbiology Medical parasitology Sub-specialties Health Systems Management Quality assurance and Quality control Health technology Health economics Global health Disaster management International health
Description
Competencies	Venipuncture Medical history taking Physical examination Point-of-care testing Medical diagnosis Laboratory investigations Radiological investigations Medical ultrasound Medical prescription Medical procedures Medical photography Rehabilitation Preventive healthcare Health information management Medical classification Medical education Health promotion Health advocacy
Education required	Diploma in Clinical Medicine and Surgery (3 years) + internship (1 year) + Clinical supervision (3 years), total 7 years or 331 weeks or 13240 hours[1] BSc. Clinical Medicine and Surgery (4 years) + internship (1 year) + Clinical supervision (3 years), total 8 years or 376 weeks or 15040 hours[2] Higher Diploma in Clinical Medicine and Surgery (18 months or 68 weeks or 2700 hours)[3] MSc. Clinical Medicine and Surgery (2 years or 90 weeks or 3600 hours)[4] PhD. Clinical Medicine and Surgery (4 years or 180 weeks or 7200 hours)[5]
Fields of employment	Public service Government agencies Kenya Defense Forces Nonprofit organizations Humanitarian organizations Health Management Organisations Universities/Colleges Hospitals Clinics Private practice Teaching Clinical research
Related jobs	Assistant Physician in the US Nurse practitioner (US and Canada) Anesthesiologist assistant (US) Pathologists' assistant (US and Canada) Dental hygienist (US)

A clinical officer (CO) is a gazetted officer who is qualified and licensed to practice medicine.^[6][7]

In Kenya the basic training for clinical officers starts after high school and takes four or five years ending on successful completion of a one-year internship in a teaching hospital and registration at the Clinical Officers Council where annual practice licenses are issued. This is followed by a three-year clinical apprenticeship under a senior clinical officer or a senior medical officer which must be completed and documented in the form of employment, resignation and recommendation letters before approval of practising certificates and Master Facility List numbers for their own private practices or before promotion from the entry-level training grade for those who remain employed. A further two-year higher diploma training which is equivalent to a bachelor's degree in a medical specialty is undertaken by those who wish to leave general practice and specialize in one branch of medicine such as paediatrics, orthopaedics or psychiatry. Unique Master Facility List numbers are generated from a national WHO-recommended database at the Ministry of Health which receives and tracks health workload, performance and disease surveillance data from all public and private health facilities in the 47 counties. Clinical officers also run private practices using a license issued to them by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council. Career options for clinical officers include general practice, specialty practice, health administration, community health and postgraduate training and research in the government or the private sector. Many clinical officers in the private sector are government contractors and subcontractors who provide primary care and hospital services to the public in their own private clinics or in public hospitals through contracts with the national government, county governments or other government entities such as the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). Kenya has approximately 25,000 registered clinical officers for its 55 million people.