Objective: Describe content of clinical care for sick children in low-resource settings.
Data sources: Nationally representative health facility surveys in Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda from 2007 to 2015.
Study design: Clinical visits by sick children under 5 years were observed and caregivers interviewed. We describe duration and content of the care in the visit and estimate associations between increased content and caregiver knowledge and satisfaction.
Principal findings: The median duration of 15,444 observations was 8 minutes; providers performed 8.4 of a maximum 24 clinical actions per visit. Content of care was minimally greater for severely ill children. Each additional clinical action was associated with 2 percent higher caregiver knowledge.
Conclusions: Consultations for children in nine lower-income countries are brief and limited. A greater number of clinical actions was associated with caregiver knowledge and satisfaction.
Keywords: Health care quality; child mortality.
© 2018 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Health Services Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Health Research and Educational Trust.