Clinical officer

In several countries in East Africa (especially in Kenya), clinical officers are health care providers. After three years of training, they receive a diploma in clinical medicine, surgery and community health. Clinical officers work either independently or with a "medical officer" to provide healthcare services to largely rural populations.

Training

The training of clinical officers takes three years and most applicants are secondary school (high school) graduates with a few possessing other qualifications such as nurses, biochemists and laboratory technologists etc. In Kenya, the training is under the Ministry of Health through the clinical officers council which sets the syllabus and accredits training institutions. The Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), also under the Ministry of Health, has campuses all over the country and trains the majority of clinical officers. St. Mary's School of Clinical Medicine in Mumias is the only private institution that trains clinical officers and is run by the catholic diocese of Kakamega. The students sit the same examination as their counterparts at the KMTC and are examined by consultants from the public service.

The first university to train clinical officers was Egerton University in 1999. Other universities followed suit and currently the program exists at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and Kenya Methodist University (KEMU). These universities follow their own curriculum approved by their senates and the clinical officers council.

Registration

After the three years of training, students sit for the national final qualifying examination (FQE) which is administered by the Clinical Officers Council. On passing the FQE they are expected to apply for provisional registration by the Clinical Officers Council before proceeding for internship in accredited hospitals. The internship lasts one year and involves three-month supervised rotations in the major medical specialties: internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics. The interns are issued with an internship booklet which has details of the minimum competencies and skills to be learned in each rotation. These booklets must be signed by the supervising consultants and returned upon registration.

Career advancement

In Kenya, professional advancement as a clinical officer is a diploma from KMTC in various specialty fields. Limited opportunities for admission to MbChB (MD) degree programs in local universities exist but rarely materialize. For this reason, most clinical officers enroll for related degree courses such as sociology, psychology, statistics and public health. Some universities had in the past admitted higher diploma holders directly to Master of Public Health degree programs, but this route no longer exists and all applicants must have a bachelor's degree.

In Tanzania, clinical officers may enroll for a advanced diploma in clinical medicine, becoming Assistant Medical Officers (AMOs) upon graduation. These AMOs are a notch higher than clinical officers and their scope of practice is much wider. In fact, their roles and responsibilities are almost identical to those of a medical officer and they become registrable by the Tanganyika Medical Council.

Kampala International University in Uganda offers a Bachelor of Science degree in clinical medicine and community health. College graduates take four and a half years to complete this degree while practicing clinical officers take three years.

Clinical officers in Mozambique and surrounding countries can train to become surgical/obstetric technicians, and carry out many emergency surgical and obstetric procedures.

In Ethiopia, health officers are trained in universities. All hold bachelor's degrees and therefore can progress to master's level training and education.

The Clinical Officers (training, registration and licensing) Act Cap 260

This Act of Parliament came into force in 1989 and is the legal basis for the practice of clinical officers. It establishes the Clinical Officers Council whose functions are: "(a) to assess the qualifications of clinical officers (b) to ensure the maintenance and improvement of the standards of practice by clinical officers and to supervise the professional conduct and practice of clinical officers (c) to register and license clinical officers for the purposes of this act (d) to colloborate with other bodies such as the medical practitioners and dentists board, the central board of health, the nursing council of Kenya, the pharmacy and poisons board, in the furtherance of the functions of the council and those bodies; and (e) to consider and deal with any matter pertaining to clinical officers including prescribing badges, insignia or uniforms to be worn by clinical officers".

The chief clinical officer is the highest level one can attain in the public service and is appointed to the council by the minister of health.

Kenya Clinical Officers Association (KCOA)

This is a professional body whose membership encompasses registered clinical officers. It is represented on the clinical officers council by three of its members who must be in private practice.

External links

• Clinical officers - Ministry of Health, Kenya
• Kenya Medical Training College - Clinical Medicine Department
• College of Tumaini University - Clinical Medicine Tanzania
• Egerton University (Kenya) - Diploma in Clinical Medicine and Surgery *Egerton University (Kenya) - Diploma in Clinical Medicine and Surgery
• Kenya Methodist University - Department of Clinical Medicine
• Kenya Laws Online