Emergency department registered nurses overestimate their disaster competency: A cross-sectional study

•Emergency department registered nurses overestimate their disaster competency.•ED RNs’ disaster competency was less than “competent”.•This study refined a validated instrument and may have increased its reliability.•Benner’s stages of clinical competence corresponded with the Likert-type scale.•Formal disaster education was associated with more accurate self-assessment.•Self-assessments may be valuable methods for evaluating competency. Major incidents continue to pose a threat to health care systems by overwhelming them with a sudden surge of patients. A major factor impacting a hospital's surge capacity is the skills, abilities, and knowledge of emergency department (ED) registered nurses (RN). The level of disaster nursing competency they possess affects patient safety and outcome. ED RNs' ability to accurately assess their competency and knowledge is imperative for mitigating the effect of major incidents. ED RN’s perception of overall disaster preparedness has not been thoroughly addressed. The aim of this study was to assess emergency department registered nurses' self-perceived disaster preparedness. The study was a cross-sectional study per the STROBE checklist. A self-assessment questionnaire based on the results of a study identifying specific disaster nursing competencies for ED RNs was distributed to all ED RNs at six participating hospitals between January 10th to February 19th of 2019. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to assess competency. ED RNs’ disaster preparedness according to the Total Disaster Competency mean was low. Furthermore, the results indicate that ED RNs’ significantly overestimate their disaster nursing competency when compared to the Total Disaster Competency mean. Additionally, this study identified factors such as experience and education were positively associated with disaster preparedness and self-assessment ability. ED RNs’ overestimate their disaster preparedness. However, ED RNs with experience and education may be better prepared. ED RNs with formal disaster education appeared to have better insight concerning their preparedness. Clinical experience, advanced levels of education, and training were positively associated with preparedness. Overestimating disaster competencies may negatively impact patient outcomes during a major incident.