[New trends in emergency nursing: disaster nursing at National Cheng Kung University Hospital].

Disasters, natural and man made, devastate individuals and society through severe injury, death, property damage, public health problems, and later psychological issues. Emergency nurses are often the first professionals to arrive at the scene of a disaster incident. As such, they must be equipped with knowledge and skills related to disaster management. Training for disaster preparedness has become an important trend for emergency nurses in order to respond immediately to various disasters and to crisis management needs. The purposes of this article were to (1) describe concepts, knowledge and skills related to disaster nursing and (2) describe the disaster nursing experience and training content / protocol of emergency nurses working at the National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Taiwan. Issues related to training, work assignments, practical training, and staff management are also discussed.