Arab Board Emergency Medicine Clinical Exam study guide
Arab Board Emergency Medicine Clinical Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Arab Board of Health Specializations Emergency Medicine Clinical Examination is the practice-based component of specialty certification in emergency medicine, intended for physicians who have completed residency training in the field and are ready to be assessed as consultant-level practitioners. It is a summative, examiner-observed assessment: candidates move through a circuit of stations built around simulated patient encounters, resuscitation scenarios, procedural and skills tasks, structured oral case discussions with examiners, and interpretation of ECGs, radiographs, ultrasound images and laboratory data, together with communication and professionalism encounters. The Arab Board Emergency Medicine Clinical Exam study guide has 12 sections and about 3,668 words.
01Resuscitation
High-quality chest compressions are the single most important intervention: rate 100–120/min, depth 5–6 cm in adults, full recoil, minimal interruptions (target compression fraction above 80%), and a change of compressor every 2 minutes to limit fatigue. Ventilate at 30:2 without an advanced airway; once one is in place give continuous compressions and 10 breaths/min.
306 words, about 2 min02Shock and Critical Care
Shock is inadequate tissue perfusion, not a blood pressure. Use three windows - skin (capillary refill, mottling, temperature), brain (mentation, agitation) and kidney (urine output below 0.5 mL/kg/h) - supported by lactate and base deficit.
281 words, about 1 min03Trauma
Follow a structured approach with catastrophic haemorrhage control first: direct pressure, tourniquet, and a pelvic binder placed at the level of the greater trochanters (a binder at the iliac crests does nothing). Then airway with in-line stabilisation, breathing with bilateral chest assessment, circulation with two large-bore lines and blood products, disability with GCS and pupils, and exposure with a log roll and active warming.
269 words, about 1 min04Burns and Wound Management
Estimate surface area with the Rule of Nines (head 9, each arm 9, each leg 18, anterior trunk 18, posterior trunk 18, perineum 1), but the patient palm including fingers is roughly 1% and is better for patchy burns. In children use Lund–Browder charts, because the head is proportionally larger and the legs smaller; applying adult percentages to an infant is a classic error.
272 words, about 1 min05Cardiovascular Emergencies
Obtain a 12-lead ECG within 10 minutes of arrival and repeat it if the first is non-diagnostic. STEMI: primary PCI if achievable within 120 minutes, otherwise fibrinolysis within 30 minutes with subsequent transfer.
251 words, about 1 min06Respiratory and Thoracic Emergencies
Assess severity by ability to speak, respiratory rate, heart rate, peak flow and mental state. A silent chest, exhaustion, cyanosis, bradycardia or altered consciousness means life-threatening asthma: senior help, continuous nebulised salbutamol with ipratropium, systemic corticosteroids, and magnesium sulphate 2 g IV over 20 minutes.
242 words, about 1 min07Neurological and Neurosurgical Emergencies
Establish the exact time last known well - wake-up strokes are usually excluded from thrombolysis but not from thrombectomy. Use a validated screen, check glucose, and obtain CT within 20 minutes to exclude haemorrhage.
250 words, about 1 min08Toxicological, Environmental and Envenomation Emergencies
Identify the syndrome, then the agent. Anticholinergic: dry flushed skin, mydriasis, delirium, urinary retention, tachycardia.
234 words, about 1 min09Paediatric Emergencies
Use the paediatric assessment triangle - appearance, work of breathing, circulation to skin - from the end of the bed before touching the child. Weight: (age in years + 4) × 2 kg; a length-based tape is faster in an arrest.
271 words, about 1 min10Obstetric and Gynaecological Emergencies
Any woman of reproductive age with abdominal pain, syncope or vaginal bleeding gets a pregnancy test - this single step prevents most missed ectopic pregnancies. A ruptured ectopic with haemodynamic instability goes to theatre; a stable patient with a small unruptured ectopic and no fetal cardiac activity may be eligible for methotrexate if hCG is low and follow-up is reliable.
258 words, about 1 min11Musculoskeletal and Orthopaedic Emergencies
Compartment syndrome is the diagnosis most often missed. The earliest reliable sign is pain out of proportion to the injury, worsened by passive stretch of the compartment muscles.
233 words, about 1 min12Gastrointestinal, Renal, Metabolic and Endocrine Emergencies
Resuscitate first, then localise. Two large-bore cannulae, cross-match, and restrictive transfusion (haemoglobin below 70 g/L, or below 80 g/L with ischaemic heart disease).
801 words, about 4 min