Objective To investigate the status of decent work perception among nurses in emergency department and analyze the influencing factors. Methods Convenience sampling method was used to select 384 nurses working in emergency department from a number of second-level and above hospitals in Henan province. The nurses were asked to fill out the general information questionnaire, the Decent Work Perception Scale, the Chinese Nurses Stressor Scale, and the Chinese version of Essentials of Magnetism Ⅱ. Results The nurses working in emergency department scored (49.08±12.21) points in decent work perception. The results of linear regression analysis showed that working years, monthly salary, exposure to workplace violence, the number of out-of-hospital trainings, stress at work and healthy work environment were the main influencing factors of nurses′ decent work perception scores, altogether explaining 54.5% of the total variance of decent work perception (adjusted R2=0.545,P<0.05 for all). Conclusion Nurses working in emergency department have a low level of decent work perception, suggesting that nursing managers should take targeted intervention measures to improve nurses′ perception of decent work and improve the quality of nursing services.