International Disaster Nursing Textbook
The effects of a disaster on health care can range from conditions that immediately besiege the system with large numbers of patients, to catastrophes that strain its long-term sustainability. Nurses as frontline health professionals, must have an understanding of the situations they may face before, during and after a disaster and they must develop the skills and strategies to provide effective and immediate care. International Disaster Nursing is the first truly comprehensive and internationally focused resource to address the diversity of issues and myriad scenarios that nurses and other health personnel, could encounter during a disaster event.

This text defines the many roles of the nurse within a multidisciplinary team, and aids the implementation of the community’s disaster plans in a crisis. International experts provide chapters on biological, chemical, natural, pandemic and explosive disasters. Others address disaster events and implications in the world’s poorer countries; populations with special needs; ethical issues; and conducting disaster research. Important features include chapter objectives, real-world vignettes, and extensive references. With an alarming increase in the occurrence of disasters in the last decade, International Disaster Nursing is the hallmark text in the field.

International Disaster Nursing is co-edited by WADEM members, Elaine Daily and Robert Powers, with contributions from many members of the WADEM International Nursing Section. The book is being published by Cambridge University Press. It is currently in the production stages and is scheduled to be released in April 2010.