Objective To investigate the current status of nursing interruptions in emergency department, to explore the causes of nursing interruptions, and provide a reference for intervention measures aiming at reducing the occurrence of nursing interruptions in emergency department. Methods A total of 298 nurses working in emergency department from six tertiary hospitals in Wuhan were investigated with a self-designed questionnaire in terms of nurses′ response to nursing interruptions. Results With the respondents, the importance scores of understanding the definition of nursing interruptions, the adverse effects of nursing interruptions, and learning related knowledge averaged (3.59±0.93), (3.65±0.89), (4.42±0.73) points;94.30% believed that nursing interruptions had influence on normal work, 90.61% agreed that nursing interruption events were normal in emergency nursing services, 62.42% believed that the interruption in emergency department occurred at night, 90.60% believed that the source of the interruption of nursing in emergency department was mainly the patients and their families, 89.93% reported that they were often interrupted when giving treatment to patients, and 87.92% were often interrupted in a way of "being urged to give treatment", or "being asked the way and for a variety of consultation". Conclusion The knowledge of nursing interruptions among nurses in emergency department is above average level. The emergency department is a place of high incidence of nursing interruptions which happen frequently at night. Nurses are often interrupted during treatment by patients or family members. Medical administrators need to address the problem, and strengthen managerial measures, in an effort to reduce the occurrence of nursing interruptions in emergency department.