MOHAP Allied Health Exam cheat sheet

Four core biomedical principles: autonomy (patient self-determination), beneficence (act in patient's interest), non-maleficence (avoid harm), justice (fair allocation of care).

Informed consent requires four elements: capacity, disclosure of material risks/benefits/alternatives, voluntariness, and documented agreement.

Scope of practice is defined by licensure, employer policy, and demonstrated competence; performing beyond it is a regulatory violation even if the task is technically easy.

Confidentiality may be breached only where law mandates reporting (e.g., notifiable diseases, suspected abuse) or where a serious and imminent threat to a specific person exists.

A dual relationship (treating a relative, friend, or subordinate) impairs objectivity; disclose and transfer care where feasible.

Professional boundaries: no financial, romantic, or social exploitation of the therapeutic relationship; gifts of significant value are declined or declared.

Duty of care begins at acceptance of the referral; abandonment occurs if care is withdrawn without notice, handover, or referral.

Competence is maintained through continuing professional development, reflective practice, and remediation after adverse events.

WHO 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene: before touching a patient, before clean/aseptic procedure, after body fluid exposure risk, after touching a patient, after touching patient surroundings.

Alcohol-based hand rub is preferred for routine decontamination; soap and water is required when hands are visibly soiled or after Clostridioides difficile or norovirus exposure.

Donning order: gown, mask/respirator, goggles/face shield, gloves. Doffing order: gloves, goggles, gown, mask - gloves first off, mask last off.

Standard precautions apply to all patients regardless of diagnosis; transmission-based precautions (contact, droplet, airborne) are added on top.

Airborne precautions require a negative-pressure room with ≥12 air changes per hour and a fit-tested N95 or equivalent respirator.

Sharps: never recap by hand; use a one-handed scoop or safety device; dispose immediately in a puncture-resistant sharps container.

Quality improvement uses the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle and measures structure, process, and outcome indicators against a defined standard.

A root cause analysis is a non-punitive, systems-focused review after a sentinel event; it asks what failed, not who to blame.

Hand hygiene compliance is measured as observed opportunities performed divided by total opportunities observed, expressed as a percentage.

Teach-back confirms comprehension: the patient restates instructions in their own words; a correct paraphrase indicates understanding.

SBAR handover: Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation - a structured tool that reduces omission of critical information.

Closed-loop communication: sender gives an instruction, receiver repeats it back, sender confirms - used for critical verbal orders.

Health literacy affects recall; plain-language techniques include short sentences, chunking to 3–5 key points, and avoiding unexplained jargon.

Patient-centered care respects patient values, preferences, and expressed needs, and coordinates and integrates care across providers.

Shared decision making combines clinician evidence with patient values; decision aids support, but do not replace, discussion.

Interpreters must be professional and trained; family members, especially children, should not be used as interpreters.

Conflict in teams is addressed by focusing on the problem and shared patient goals, not on personal attributes of colleagues.

Cultural safety in the UAE includes accommodating modesty preferences, gender-congruent care requests, prayer times, and Ramadan fasting status.

MOHAP (Ministry of Health and Prevention) regulates federal health services and licenses health professionals; the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and Dubai Health Authority license within their emirates.

Federal Law No. 7 of 1975 governs the practice of medicine and related professions in the UAE.

Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 concerns the use of information and communication technology in health fields, covering electronic health data and telemedicine.

Malpractice liability in the UAE may be civil (compensation), disciplinary (licensing authority), or criminal where gross negligence causes harm.

Notifiable diseases must be reported to the relevant health authority; failure to report is a regulatory offense.

Patients have the right to access their medical records; disclosure to third parties requires patient consent or a legal basis.

Continuing medical education is a condition of license renewal; required hours and cycle are set by the issuing authority.

UAE nationals have access to government-funded care; residents are covered through mandatory health insurance schemes.

Prescribing and dispensing are restricted to licensed practitioners acting within their registered scope and formulary rules.

Normal adult resting values: heart rate 60–100/min, respiratory rate 12–20/min, blood pressure <120/80 mmHg, SpO2 ≥95% on room air, temperature ~36.5–37.5 °C.

Mean arterial pressure = diastolic + (systolic − diastolic)/3; a value below 65 mmHg suggests inadequate organ perfusion.

Cardiac output = heart rate × stroke volume; it is the primary determinant of oxygen delivery together with hemoglobin and saturation.

Oxygen delivery (DO2) ≈ cardiac output × 1.34 × hemoglobin × SaO2; anemia and hypoxemia both reduce it.

Acid–base: pH <7.35 is acidemia, >7.45 is alkalemia; respiratory disorders alter PaCO2, metabolic disorders alter bicarbonate.

Universal precautions assume all blood and body fluids are potentially infectious; standard precautions extend this to all patients.

Inflammation: rubor, calor, dolor, tumor, and loss of function follow vasodilation, increased permeability, and mediator release.

Bone healing stages: hematoma, fibrocartilaginous callus, bony callus, remodeling - loading must respect each stage.

Pharmacokinetics: absorption, distribution, metabolism (mainly hepatic), excretion (mainly renal); half-life determines time to steady state.

Assessment sequence: history, inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation - with abdominal examination, auscultate before palpation and percussion.

Sensitivity = true positives / (true positives + false negatives); high sensitivity rules out disease when negative.

Specificity = true negatives / (true negatives + false positives); high specificity rules in disease when positive.

Positive predictive value depends on prevalence; a positive test in a low-prevalence population is more likely to be false positive.

Number needed to treat = 1 / absolute risk reduction; it expresses how many patients must be treated for one to benefit.

Red flags (e.g., unexplained weight loss, night pain, neurological deficit, fever) trigger escalation rather than routine management.

Differential diagnosis is prioritized by probability and by harm if missed; the most dangerous plausible condition is excluded first.

Clinical reasoning errors include anchoring, confirmation bias, premature closure, and availability bias - deliberate reflection reduces them.

Baseline and outcome measures should use validated, reliable tools with documented minimal clinically important difference.

Goal setting should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) and negotiated with the patient.

Dose–response in rehabilitation: progression is achieved by increasing load, repetitions, frequency, or complexity - not all at once.

Informed consent for intervention must be obtained before the procedure and documented; consent is ongoing and revocable.

Pain management follows the WHO analgesic ladder: non-opioid, then weak opioid, then strong opioid, with adjuvants at any step.

RICE for acute soft-tissue injury: rest, ice, compression, elevation - ice for ~15–20 minutes with a barrier to protect skin.

Red flags during intervention (chest pain, new neurological deficit, desaturation, sudden severe pain) require immediate cessation and escalation.

Handover after intervention must include what was done, the patient response, and the plan - omissions are a leading cause of harm.

Adverse drug reactions are classified: type A (dose-related, predictable) and type B (idiosyncratic, unpredictable).

Any adverse event or near miss is documented and reported through the incident system, not only in the clinical note.

The medical record is a legal document; entries are contemporaneous, dated, timed, signed, and attributable to the author.

Late entries are marked as late, with the actual date and time of writing; original content is never altered or erased.

Corrections are made by a single strikethrough, the correction, initials, and date - never by overwriting or deleting.

Documentation should record objective findings, patient response, education given, and consent - not opinions about colleagues.

Electronic health records must maintain an audit trail of who accessed or modified data and when.

Access is governed by minimum necessary and role-based permissions; accessing a record without a care or legal reason is a breach.

Patient identifiers (name, ID number, date of birth) must appear on every page or entry to prevent misfiling.

Health data are subject to confidentiality law; transfer by email or portable media requires encryption and an approved channel.

Retention periods for records are set by the health authority; records are not destroyed before the mandated period elapses.

Normal adult resting values: heart rate 60–100/min, respiratory rate 12–20/min, blood pressure <120/80 mmHg, SpO2 ≥95% on room air, temperature ~36.5–37.5 °C.

Mean arterial pressure = diastolic + (systolic − diastolic)/3; a value below 65 mmHg suggests inadequate organ perfusion.

Cardiac output = heart rate × stroke volume; it is the primary determinant of oxygen delivery together with hemoglobin and saturation.

Oxygen delivery (DO2) ≈ cardiac output × 1.34 × hemoglobin × SaO2; anemia and hypoxemia both reduce it.

Acid–base: pH <7.35 is acidemia, >7.45 is alkalemia; respiratory disorders alter PaCO2, metabolic disorders alter bicarbonate.

Inflammation: rubor, calor, dolor, tumor, and loss of function follow vasodilation, increased permeability, and mediator release.

Bone healing stages: hematoma, fibrocartilaginous callus, bony callus, remodeling - loading must respect each stage.

Pharmacokinetics: absorption, distribution, metabolism (mainly hepatic), excretion (mainly renal); half-life determines time to steady state.

Assessment sequence: history, inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation - with abdominal examination, auscultate before palpation and percussion.

Sensitivity = true positives / (true positives + false negatives); high sensitivity rules out disease when negative.

Specificity = true negatives / (true negatives + false positives); high specificity rules in disease when positive.

Positive predictive value depends on prevalence; a positive test in a low-prevalence population is more likely to be false positive.

Number needed to treat = 1 / absolute risk reduction; it expresses how many patients must be treated for one to benefit.

Red flags (e.g., unexplained weight loss, night pain, neurological deficit, fever) trigger escalation rather than routine management.

Differential diagnosis is prioritized by probability and by harm if missed; the most dangerous plausible condition is excluded first.

Clinical reasoning errors include anchoring, confirmation bias, premature closure, and availability bias - deliberate reflection reduces them.

Baseline and outcome measures should use validated, reliable tools with documented minimal clinically important difference.

Goal setting should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) and negotiated with the patient.

Dose–response in rehabilitation: progression is achieved by increasing load, repetitions, frequency, or complexity - not all at once.

Informed consent for intervention must be obtained before the procedure and documented; consent is ongoing and revocable.

Pain management follows the WHO analgesic ladder: non-opioid, then weak opioid, then strong opioid, with adjuvants at any step.

RICE for acute soft-tissue injury: rest, ice, compression, elevation - ice for ~15–20 minutes with a barrier to protect skin.

Red flags during intervention (chest pain, new neurological deficit, desaturation, sudden severe pain) require immediate cessation and escalation.

Handover after intervention must include what was done, the patient response, and the plan - omissions are a leading cause of harm.

Adverse drug reactions are classified: type A (dose-related, predictable) and type B (idiosyncratic, unpredictable).

Any adverse event or near miss is documented and reported through the incident system, not only in the clinical note.

The medical record is a legal document; entries are contemporaneous, dated, timed, signed, and attributable to the author.

Late entries are marked as late, with the actual date and time of writing; original content is never altered or erased.

Corrections are made by a single strikethrough, the correction, initials, and date - never by overwriting or deleting.

Documentation should record objective findings, patient response, education given, and consent - not opinions about colleagues.

Electronic health records must maintain an audit trail of who accessed or modified data and when.

Access is governed by minimum necessary and role-based permissions; accessing a record without a care or legal reason is a breach.

Patient identifiers (name, ID number, date of birth) must appear on every page or entry to prevent misfiling.

Health data are subject to confidentiality law; transfer by email or portable media requires encryption and an approved channel.

Retention periods for records are set by the health authority; records are not destroyed before the mandated period elapses.