Health Assistant (Nursing) Exam Content: Seven Sections and Weights

Last verified: 1 November 2026. Source: the Arabic and English exam blueprints and the professional licensure exam dates page from the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. Information can change, so check the SCFHS website. This guide is from an independent website with no connection to SCFHS or any government body.

In short: 150 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours, with a pass mark of 50%. The biggest section is Patient Care at 40% (about 60 questions). Each section can vary by up to 5% either way.

The seven sections and their weights

* Professionalism and Medical Ethics includes medical law, regulatory guidelines and confidentiality of patient records.
** Assistance in Diagnostic Procedures includes diagnostic tests.

Questions per section are calculated from the weight (weight × 150). SCFHS notes that percentages and content can change at any time.

What each section covers

SCFHS publishes only the seven sections and their weights. The topics below are our own grouping based on the suggested references, so you know where to start.

• Professionalism and Medical Ethics: Ethical principles and professional conduct; medical law, regulations, scope of practice and consent; confidentiality of patient records and documentation.
• Patient and Environmental Safety: Patient safety (identification, falls, restraints, incidents); environmental safety (fire, hazardous materials, body mechanics); emergencies, first aid and basic life support.
• Professional Communication: Therapeutic communication with patients; special groups and cultural differences; team communication, handoff and telephone.
• Medical Terminology: Prefixes, suffixes and roots; body system terms; medical abbreviations and anatomical directions.
• Patient Care: Vital signs and measurements; hygiene, comfort and bed making; mobility, positioning, transfers and pressure injury prevention; nutrition, elimination and intake and output; medication administration and wound care; care of older adults, children, mothers and post-operative patients.
• Infection Control: Chain of infection, hand hygiene and PPE; sterilization, disinfection, isolation and medical waste.
• Assistance in Diagnostic Procedures: Specimen collection (urine, stool, sputum, blood); assisting with examinations and ECG and preparing the patient; diagnostic tests and normal values.

Suggested references

• Pearson's Comprehensive Medical Assisting (Helen Mills and Ron Maly), latest edition.
• Lippincott Williams & Wilkins' Comprehensive Medical Assisting (Judy Kronenberger, Laura Durham and Denise Woodson), latest edition.
• Medical Terminology: An Illustrated Guide (Barbara J. Cohen and Ann DePetris), latest edition.
• Kozier & Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing, 10th edition (Berman, Snyder and Frandsen, 2016).

SCFHS says the list is a study aid only, does not imply endorsement of these books, and that exam questions are not necessarily taken from them. All the references are in English.

Where to start

Start with Patient Care, since it holds 40% of the questions, then Assistance in Diagnostic Procedures (16%). Take the free questions first to see your weakest section, then focus on it.