title: Delivery of operative pediatric surgical care by physicians and non-physician clinicians in Malawi.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Specialized pediatric surgeons are unavailable in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Delegating some surgical tasks to non-physician clinical officers can mitigate the dependence of a health system on highly skilled clinicians for specific services.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a case-control study examining pediatric surgical cases over a 12 month period. Operating surgeon was categorized as physician or clinical officer. Operative acuity, surgical subspecialty, and outcome were then compared between the two groups, using physicians as the control.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1186 operations were performed on 1004 pediatric patients. Mean age was 6 years (±5) and 64% of patients were male. Clinical officers performed 40% of the cases. Most general surgery, urology and congenital cases were performed by physicians, while most ENT, neurosurgery, and burn surgery cases were performed by clinical officers. Reoperation rate was higher for patients treated by clinical officers (17%) compared to physicians (7.1%), although this was attributable to multiple burn surgical procedures. Physician and clinical officer cohorts had similar complication rates (4.5% and 4.0%, respectively) and mortality rates (2.5% and 2.1%, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fundamental changes in health policy in Africa are imperative as a significant increase in the number of surgeons available in the near future is unlikely. Task-shifting from surgeons to clinical officers may be useful to provide coverage of basic surgical care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi; Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States.
authors.forename: Anna F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Tyson
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi.
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Msiska
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiser
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi; Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States.
authors.forename: Jonathan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States.
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mclean
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Varela
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi; Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States. Electronic address: anthchar@med.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Anthony G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Charles
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008295:Malawi / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012086:Reoperation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Malawi; Pediatric surgery; Task-shifting