The ward is not as Florence Nightingale once new it, but thet is as was previousley describe is a "nightingale ward" named after the lady with the lamp herself. The "ward" is an identifying noun of a clinical area which has its own specific identity ...
That is the ward identified to take all those patient injured in one incident, it make security, the press and debriefing easier, Hopefully it also means the nurses caring for them are the most appropriatley trained.
I run the recieving ward for any major incident i.e. bombing etc. For a large teaching hospital in London (UK. We are the first stop after accident and emergency, when not running the infrequent Major incident it is the Male Trauma & Orthopeadic ...