To explore the current status and training needs of clinical nursing teachers in Class Ⅲ Grade A hospitals in China, and provide a reference for further construction of clinical nursing teachers.

From October 2017 to February 2019, by purposive sampling with a ratio of 1︰10, the clinical nursing teachers from 141 ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China received a cross-sectional study with the Basic Information Questionnaire of Clinical Nursing Teachers in China's Class Ⅲ Grade A hospitals. A total of 11 594 questionnaires were collected, and 10 266 were valid questionnaires, with an effective rate of 88.55%.

Among the 10 266 clinical nursing teachers, 49.64% (5 096/10 266) were senior nurses; 51.27% (5 263/10 266) were between 30 and 39 years old; 78.42% (8 051/10 266) were those with a bachelor degree or below; 41.33% (4 243/10 266) had taught for less than 5 years; 41.84% (4 295/10 266) were selected and designated by managers; 38.78% (3 981/10 266) often or always felt the pressure of teaching; 56.31% (5 781/10 266) thought that they were competent for clinical teaching; 50.54% (5 188/10 266) occasionally participated in teaching training, and had a strong demand for training. The top three demands were teaching methods and skills, frontier knowledge of specialties, and nursing research. Clinical teachers with different teaching years, academic qualifications and professional titles are in basic theories of education, teaching methods and skills, nursing management, and nursing research. There was statistically significant difference in the training needs for the frontier knowledge of specialist subjects between clinical nursing teachers with different teaching years, educational background and job titles (P<0.05) .

The clinical nursing teachers in China's ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals are mainly senior nurses, and the overall initial academic qualifications are low. There are problems in the selection of clinical nursing teachers in teaching management, and the lack of teachers' participation in teaching training. It is recommended that the relevant departments establish a competency-oriented and demand-oriented selection and management system for clinical nursing teachers, thereby promoting the construction of the teaching staff.

Nursing education; Clinical nursing teacher; Clinical teaching; Teaching staff training; Training need; Cross-sectional survey