Objective To describe the level of core competency of surgical and medical nurses in public general hospitals in Ningxia province and to provide reference for targeted training. Methods A total of 1 021 registered surgical and medical nurses working in 17 public general hospitals in Ningxia province were investigated with the Competency Inventory for Registered Nurses (CIRN). Results The total CIRN score of the participants was 155.38±39.40, which was significantly lower than the domestic norm (P<0.01). Among the five investigated cities, Yinchuan scored the highest (162.22±37.53) and Guyuan scored the lowest (141.50±37.78). The total CIRN score and dimension scores of clinical practice, leadership and critical thinking/scientific research in nurses working in tertiary hospitals were significantly higher than those working in secondary hospitals (P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusion The core competency of registered surgical and medical nurses in Ningxia is at a medium level, and that of nurses from small cities and working in secondary hospitals needs to be improved. Hospital administrators should conduct targeted training.