Clinical officer (CO)is used for evaluation of patient's general condition by using the acronmy of OLD CAR:
O: Onset of the disease
L: Location of the pain
D: Duration of the pain
C: Character of the disease
A: Associated, Alleviating factors
R: Risk factor of the disease. |
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- 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
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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
- BSc. Clinical Medicine and Surgery (4 years) + internship (1 year) + Clinical supervision (3 years), total 8 years or 376 weeks or 15040 hours
- Higher Diploma in Clinical Medicine and Surgery (18 months or 68 weeks or 2700 hours)
- MSc. Clinical Medicine and Surgery (2 years or 90 weeks or 3600 hours)
- PhD. Clinical Medicine and Surgery (4 years or 180 weeks or 7200 hours)
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A clinical officer (CO) is a licensed practitioner of medicine in East Africa and parts of Southern Africa who is trained and authorized to perform general or specialized medical duties such as diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury, ordering and interpreting medical tests, performing routine medical and surgical procedures, and referring patients to other practitioners.
Unlike nurses and physician assistants, a clinical officer is an independent practitioner who is trained in the medical model to practice the full scope of medicine and provides routine care in general medicine or within a medical specialty such as anesthesia and carries out treatment that is outside the nurses' scope. A clinical officer usually oversees a health center or a district hospital and is part of the medical team in bigger hospitals where one may head a department or work under a senior clinical officer or a physician.