Objective To analyze the causes of adverse events in nursing and provide the evidence for patient safety control and risk management.Method Investigation and analysis of 182 nursing adverse events that reported in our hospital from January 2008 to June 2009. Results The causes of adverse events in nursing could be divided into three categories. Of all the causes. failure to implement the nursing core system was the most common one, which accounted for 52.2%. the safety control problem accounted for 25.7% and the logistic problem accounted for 21.9%. Conclusion To further promote quality of nursing care and ensure patient safety, it should strengthen the safety awareness of nursing staff and implementation of the nursing core system, improve the situation of shortage of nursing human resources, inspect and maintain equipment regularly to ensure it was in good condition.