As part of the role of a nurse, we always need to be prepared for a disaster. These can be natural or man made situations that require us to act quickly and be knowledgeable about our role. The nurse should have supplies ready such as a large bore IV, bag valve mask and IV pump that can provide fluids quickly. If the nurse is at the site, he/she should remove the patient from danger, then assess them with the A,B,C,D,E tool. Airway, breathing, circulation, disabilities and environment will provide us with information and guide us on interventions to implement. The nurse will triage the patients when they come in to make sure they take care of those with higher needs first. They need to make sure that everyone is up to date on information to provide the best care. Medical surgical nurses can be called to help and will be assigned patients within their scope of practice to assess, intervene, provide medications if needed and reassess to see if the interventions worked. 

The ANA has a Code of Ethics that discusses the ethical roles as nurses but Provision two and Provision five contradict each other in a sense. Provision two is all about the nurse needing to focus fully on the patient while the fifth one is about the nurses duty to self. In disaster nursing, these two principles work together. Duty to self is seen through assessing the scene and making sure it is safe before going in and treating patients. Then, once you have a patient, they become your responsibility too. As a nurse, duty to self is crucial in providing safe care and understanding personal limits.