Objective To observe the intersection of nursing problems expressed by Chinese nurses in nursing case and the three nursing terminology classification system, to understand Chinese nurses′ cognition of nursing diagnosis, and to provide reference for establishing localized nursing terminology system in China. Methods Totally 326 nursing problems in 44 nursing case reports were selected and mapped to NANDA-I, Omaha System and Clinical Caring Classification (CCC) system according to disease, symptom, function, health pattern and risk 5 categories, then the mapping results were compared. Results The distribution of nursing problems in the 3 nursing classification systems was different(P<0.01). Omaha System and CCC had more advantages in the classification of diseases, NANDA-I and CCC had more significant advantages in the classification of health pattern forms when compared with Omaha System (P<0.05，P<0.01). NANDA-I and CCC showed good consistency in other classifications except disease (Kappa＞0.61). Totally 39.4% missing mapping existed in risk problems. Conclusion The coincidence of expressed nursing problems in case reports is low when mapped with the three terminology classification systems, especially the disease and risk focused nursing problems. The nursing problems of symptom, function and health patterns have something in common in the mapping result of NANDA-I and CCC. It is necessary to establish localized nursing terminology according to the advantage of the 3 major classification systems and combining with physican-nurse cooperation model.