A clinical officer (CO) is a gazetted officer who is qualified and licensed to practice medicine. In Kenya a clinical officer operates under the jurisdiction of the Clinical Officers Council, which is responsible for their training, registration and licensing, and each must study clinical medicine and surgery for three or four years, graduate from an approved medical training institution, pass a national government licensing examination, complete an internship year at a teaching hospital and register as a clinical officer, then apply for a practicing license and complete a final three-year period of clinical supervision under a senior clinical officer or a senior medical officer in order to qualify for a practising certificate, which allows one to provide general medical services to the public or to go into specialization. Clinical Officer (CO) is a protected title and its use by people who are not registered as such by the Clinical Officers Council is prohibited by law and punishable by up to five years in jail with or without a fine. Globally, the title may not have legal restrictions and can refer to a job grade rather than a medical qualification such as junior assistive clinical staff (e.g. in Zambia and Tanzania), licensed medical professionals (e.g. in Kenya and Malawi) or high-level corporate officers, directors, and managers (e.g. Chief Clinical Officers in Europe and the United States).
A clinical officer observes, interviews and examines sick and healthy individuals in all specialties to determine and document their health status and applies relevant pathological, radiological, psychiatric and community health techniques, procedures and findings needed to classify diseases and related health problems and to establish a provisional or final diagnosis upon which to prescribe, initiate, carry out or terminate treatment or therapy based on their specialized knowledge, skills and experience in clinical pharmacology, use of clinical guidelines, best practices and disease patterns as well as individual patient and community characteristics while being actively pharmacovigilant to prevent, identify, minimize and manage drug reactions, drug errors, side effects and poisoning, overdiagnosis, overscreening, overtreatment and futile care. A clinical officer performs general and specialized medical duties such as diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury, ordering and interpreting medical tests, performing routine medical and surgical procedures, referring patients to other practitioners and managing health departments, institutions, projects and systems.
As a gazetted officer a clinical officer generates credible health data and information within communities and health institutions and cascades the same to the county and national governments, government agencies and third parties through standard recording and reporting tools from the Ministry of Health which are used to capture data on disease outbreaks, physical injuries and deformities, mental illness, drug resistance, disability, nutritional disorders, births and deaths among other.
