Objective To develop the Crisis Leadership Scale for Nursing Staff（CLS-NS） under major infectious diseases epidemics and test its reliability and validity. Methods A conceptual model of nursing crisis leadership was constructed based on the six-aspect model of crisis leadership combined with literature analysis and qualitative interviews. We initially constructed the scale，primarily through literature review，qualitative interviews，Delphi questionnaire and two-round pre-surveys. 646 nursing staff from three tertiary general hospitals in Shanaxi Province were selected as respondents in July 2023 to assess the scale’s reliability and validity. Results The CLS-NS included 36 entries in 5 dimensions. We extracted 5 common factors via the exploratory factor analysis，namely early warning ability，loading the responsibility，control power，cohesiveness，and growing power，with a cumulative variance contribution of 88.063%. Validation factor analysis results revealed a well-fitted model and stable structural factors of the questionnaire. S-CVI and I-CVI were both 1.00. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the total scale was 0.973，the odd-even split reliability was 0.930，and the re-measurement reliability was 0.795. Conclusion The CLS-NS has shown favorable reliability and validity and can be used as an instrument to assess crisis leadership of nursing staff.