Introduction The role of nurses is changing in the healthcare facilities. According to Stangeland (2010), nurses were traditionally regarded as assistants to medical doctors who were expected to follow instructions on how to handle patients in different settings. However, this role is changing as nurses find themselves in situations where they have to make critical decisions to save lives of their patients. The emergency department is one of the areas where nurses are increasingly getting engaged, especially due to the increasing number of patients that has already overwhelmed doctors in many hospitals within the country. Nurses are now expected to offer specialized care to the patients at the emergency departments to reduce pressure on the doctors. Yamamoto (2013) says that nurses can only be effective at the emergency departments if they have some core competencies in disaster nursing. They must have the right skills and knowledge on how to respond to different emergency cases and save the lives of patients in critical conditions at different stages. Nurses may be expected to offer care to patients before they can be transferred to other departments to receive specialized care from the doctors. In other cases they are assigned the role of caring for patients who have just received specialized care but still need close monitoring to ensure that their conditions improve. That is why Australian Nursing Council Canberra came up with core competencies that all nurses working in the emergency departments are expected to have (Loke & Fung, 2014). The scholar notes that sometimes core competencies may vary depending on whether a nurse is practicing at a local, regional, or national level within Australia. In this paper, the researcher will review the relevant literatures to explain the competing issues of competencies, expanded scope of practice, ethical practices, and ability of the nurses to respond effectively in such demanding environments. Competing Issues of Competencies The changing role of nurses has forced the scholars and practitioners to engage in extensive researches in order to help explain the new position that nurses currently hold in hospitals and how their competencies can be enhanced to ensure that they can deliver quality service to the clients. Kako and Migani (2010) say that nurses at the emergency department always find themselves under pressure to deliver quality services within the shortest time possible. Their ability to make the right decisions at the right time may mean life or death to their patients. They always find themselves under pressure to deliver quality service to their patients as fast as possible and in the most precise manner. That is why scholars have engaged in massive research to help explain some of the core competencies of nurses within this department. Jose (2010) says that nurses are ethically required to respond to any emergency medical need that may occur from time to time. When defining the core competencies for disaster management, nurses are expected to explore almost all the critical issues in the emergency department because it is never known which form of disaster may strike (Loke & Fung, 2014). In the recent past, some parts in Australia experienced flashfloods due to excessive rainfall. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States was another serious disaster that needed