Objective To discuss the effect of building patient safety culture in EICU.Methods A non-punitive reporting system of nursing adverse events was set up by identifying nursing risks,a learning organization and effective communication were established,and patients and families were also encouraged to participate in building patient safety culture.Some indicators of nursing quality and nursing defects were compared before and after.Results After building patient safety culture,the qualified rate of nursing documentation,nursing operation,instrument operation and pressure sore management as well as the satisfaction degree of patients improved obviously (94.6％ vs 83.2％,96.2％ vs 88.7％,99.0％ vs 91.2％,97.3％ vs 86.6％,98.6％ vs 91.5％,respectively),and the differences were statistically significant (x2 =6.58,4.03,4.96,7.73,3.95,respectively; P ＜ 0.05).Nursing accidents,nurse-patient conflicts and nursing errors reduced obviously after building patient safety culture (0 vs 1,1 vs 4,2 vs 10,respectively),and active reports about nursing defects increased from 3 to 14.Conclusions Building a safety culture in EICU can enhance nurses' security awareness and their capabilities of identifying and preventing nursing risks,so as to improve nursing quality and assure patients safety.