Defining “Disasters” with Implications for Nursing Scholarship and Practice

Nurses have long been a part of disaster care, yet the nurses' unique approaches to disaster victims have not been reported in the nursing literature. This situation raises the questions, “How does disaster nursing differ than general nursing?” and “What defines the specialty care of disaster nursing?” An analysis of the term “disaster” and the concepts that have been used to build a theoretic base for disaster nursing are presented.