Purpose: This study examined the mediating effect of disaster cognitive readiness on the relationship between disaster nursing knowledge, learning agility, and disaster nursing performance among emergency department (ED) nurses. Methods: A cross-secti...
Purpose: This study examined the mediating effect of disaster cognitive readiness on the relationship between disaster nursing knowledge, learning agility, and disaster nursing performance among emergency department (ED) nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 199 ED nurses from 14 hospitals in South Korea. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, multiple regression, and SPSS PROCESS macro (Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap samples. Results: Mean scores were 6.61±1.55 for disaster nursing knowledge (out of 10), 3.38±0.35 for learning agility, 3.35±0.32 for disaster cognitive readiness, and 3.41±0.37 for disaster nursing performance. Disaster nursing performance correlated significantly with disaster cognitive readiness (r=.28, p<.001), learning agility (r=.26, p<.001), and disaster nursing knowledge (r=.15, p=.035). Multiple regression revealed that learning agility(β=.18, p<.05) and disaster cognitive readiness (β=.19, p<.05) significantly predicted disaster nursing performance, while disaster nursing knowledge did not (β=.12, p=.059). Mediation analysis showed that disaster cognitive readiness partially mediated the relationship between learning agility and disaster nursing performance (indirect effect 95% CI [.022, .165]), but did not mediate the relationship between disaster nursing knowledge and performance (95% CI [−.002, .016]). Conclusion: Learning agility enhances disaster nursing performance by strengthening cognitive readiness, while factual knowledge alone does not translate into psychological preparedness. Educational interventions should focus on developing learning agility and cognitive preparedness rather than knowledge-based approaches alone. Future research should explore longitudinal designs and develop comprehensive training programs targeting learning agility enhancement.