Content of Care in 15,000 Sick Child Consultations in Nine Lower-Income Countries.

<bold>Objective: </bold>Describe content of clinical care for sick children in low-resource settings.<bold>Data Sources: </bold>Nationally representative health facility surveys in Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda from 2007 to 2015.<bold>Study Design: </bold>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.<bold>Principal Findings: </bold>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.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]