Qatar nursing exam: the registered general nurse paper

Facts last verified 5 October 2026.

Qatar’s registered general nurses need 50% to pass. The paper has 150 multiple-choice questions (DHP exam page). Adult nursing has the most: 61 questions.

Is this the right paper for you?

This is the Registered General Nurse (RGN) paper. Qatar’s Department of Healthcare Professions (DHP) accepts these routes (nurse guideline).

  • With a 4-year nursing bachelor’s or 3-year diploma after 12 years of school, you need 2 years of clinical work after registration.
  • With a nursing associate degree and RGN licence, you need 3 years of clinical work after RGN registration and licensing. Online and distance courses do not count (nurse guideline).
  • Assistant Nurse and Licensed Practical Nurse are separate routes. Check your scope before you book.
  • NCLEX-RN can replace the exam. Check certificate validity in Qatar licence steps.

Pass 50%

Format at a glance

150 questions. Time: 3 hours on the DHP overview page; 3½ hours in the profession blueprint. Pass mark: 50%.

Delivered by Prometric.

DHP's overview page and Prometric give 3 hours; the profession blueprint gives 3½ hours. Ask Prometric to confirm the testing time for your booked exam.

What the paper covers

ProMCQ sets these topic targets for its mock papers, using the published Qatar DHP blueprint as a guide. They can differ from the official weights, so check the blueprint for those. Each mock includes national-topic content, so its final question shares can differ slightly from these targets.

  • Nursing Fundamentals (20%): Fundamentals: 30 questions. Study basic care, assessment, infection prevention and safe drug use. Choose the right order of care.
  • Adult Nursing (40.7%): Adult nursing: 61 questions. Study care before and after surgery, chronic disease and drug safety. Spot a patient getting worse.
  • Maternal-Child Nursing (29.3%): Maternal-child nursing: 44 questions. Study care in pregnancy, birth and after birth, plus newborns and sick children. Nursing and midwifery share a blueprint.
  • Unit Management and Leadership (10%): Unit management and leadership: 15 questions. Study staffing, handover, incident reports and which care comes first. Decide who can do each task.

Sample questions

Eight original practice questions from the QCHP nurses bank. They are written to the paper's style, not taken from the live exam. Pick an answer to see the key and explanation.

  1. A client with lung cancer develops facial and arm swelling, distended neck veins, headache, and increasing dyspnea while resting in bed. Which action should the nurse take first?

    1. Reassess work of breathing and oxygen saturation.
    2. Notify the oncology team for urgent review.
    3. Raise the head of the bed to high-Fowler’s.
    4. Prepare the client for provider-directed endovascular stenting.
    Answer

    C. Facial and upper-extremity edema, distended neck veins, headache, and dyspnea in a client with lung cancer indicate superior vena cava obstruction. Raising the head of the bed to high-Fowler’s is the immediate nursing action to improve venous drainage and breathing.

  2. Which of the following should the nurse address first?

    1. Offer family private viewing time
    2. Position body before rigor mortis
    3. Confirm documented provider pronouncement
    4. Prepare body for morgue transfer
    Answer

    C. Post-mortem care begins only after the responsible provider has pronounced death and the pronouncement is documented.

  3. A young infant has progressively worsening nonbilious projectile vomiting, remains hungry afterward, and has fewer wet diapers. Which study should the nurse expect for confirmation?

    1. Obtain abdominal ultrasonography for confirmation
    2. Obtain ultrasonography after an olive appears
    3. Obtain imaging after vomiting becomes bilious
    4. Obtain plain abdominal radiography for confirmation
    Answer

    A. The presentation is characteristic of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, and abdominal ultrasonography confirms the suspected gastric outlet obstruction.

  4. A 29-year-old woman receiving opioid maintenance treatment reports severe labour pain. Her prescribed maintenance medication is being continued. The nurse is planning analgesia with the obstetric team. Which pain-management plan should the nurse implement for this patient?

    1. Administer prescribed additional multimodal analgesia
    2. Rely on the maintenance dose
    3. Administer prescribed nalbuphine for analgesia
    4. Administer prescribed butorphanol for analgesia
    Answer

    A. The nurse should implement prescribed additional multimodal pain relief while continuing the maintenance medication. Maintenance treatment alone provides insufficient labour analgesia, and mixed opioid agonist-antagonists can precipitate acute withdrawal.

  5. A 41-year-old man with generalized anxiety disorder is fidgeting and answers questions when the nurse refocuses him. During the admission assessment, he quietly says he has thought about ending his life. What is the nurse's PRIORITY action for this patient?

    1. Leave to phone the provider
    2. Document his current anxiety level
    3. Teach him paced breathing
    4. Stay and have the provider notified
    Answer

    D. Anxiety often coexists with depression, so the nurse assesses for suicide or self-harm risk. Any suicidal ideation must be reported to the provider, and the client is not left alone while making suicidal statements. The safe priority is therefore to stay with him while the provider is notified.

  6. After a harmful patient-safety event, an involved clinician reports persistent guilt, anxiety, and distress. Which response specifically addresses the clinician's needs?

    1. Arrange timely trained peer support
    2. Conduct prompt factual team debriefing
    3. Begin formal systems root-cause analysis
    4. Complete relevant oversight-body reporting
    Answer

    A. An involved clinician may experience guilt, anxiety, distress, or trauma after an event and should receive timely support from a trained peer or an employee-assistance referral.

  7. A 62-year-old man taking an anticoagulant for atrial fibrillation tells the nurse he drinks a daily herbal preparation his neighbour recommended. He reports no bleeding. Which nursing action is safest?

    1. Consult pharmacy about an interaction
    2. Reassure him natural remedies are safe
    3. Continue both since no bleeding occurred
    4. Inspect his skin for cupping sites
    Answer

    A. With an anticoagulant, a disclosed herbal remedy is screened for herb-drug interaction and the nurse consults pharmacy or the prescriber rather than guessing, and documents the use.

  8. An 83-year-old man with age-related hearing loss declines protective services. He has no hearing aid. Nurse Salwa has moved him to a quiet room to assess his capacity for this refusal. How should Nurse Salwa speak to this patient during the assessment?

    1. Face him, shout each question
    2. Face him, clear low-pitched voice
    3. Sit at his side, speak clearly
    4. Face him, clear high-pitched voice
    Answer

    B. Presbycusis can lower performance on cognitive assessments and be mistaken for confusion, so communication must be supported before judging capacity. The nurse sits directly in front of the person, speaks clearly at a normal pace in a low-pitched voice, keeps hands away from the face, reduces background noise, adds nonverbal cues and rephrases or repeats as needed.

Full papers in the real format

10 timed mock papers of 150 questions each, built to the weights above. No question repeats across papers.

How to prepare

  • For practice, identify the patient at greatest risk before choosing an action.
  • Practise infusion rates, weight-based and paediatric doses.
  • The nursing book list covers fundamentals, adult and maternal-child nursing, management, patient safety and clinical skills. It includes the ANA Code of Ethics.
  • Use mock scores to find weak areas. They do not prove you will pass.

Licensing steps

  1. Licence steps: Check your licence route. Read the guide
  2. Fees and booking: Plan costs and book. Read the guide
  3. Results and retakes: Check your next step. Read the guide

Frequently asked questions

How long is the Qatar nursing exam?

DHP’s exam page and Prometric give 3 hours. Blueprints and Circular 18/2020 give 3½ hours. Ask Prometric for your testing and total appointment times.

Can NCLEX replace the Qatar nursing exam?

Yes, NCLEX-RN is listed. From 1 January 2026, send verified proof. Check validity and licence rules in Qatar licence steps.

Where can you check Qatar nursing licence costs?

Use Qatar fees and booking for the full route.

Where are the Qatar nursing retake rules?

Use Qatar results and retakes to check your attempts.

Sources

Facts last verified 2026-10-05.

  1. Qualifying Examination, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  2. Circular DHP/2025/19: Equivalent examinations, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  3. Nurse and Midwifery Qualifying Examination Blueprint and References, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  4. Guidelines for Nurses, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  5. Qualifying Examination Policy, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  6. Circular 18/2020: Qualifying examination updates, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  7. Circular DHP/2025/24: Registration and licensing policy update, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar