Objective To describe the levels of health education ability, self-directed learning ability, and self-efficacy and their correlations in nursing students during clinical practice, thus to provide reference for nursing educators. Methods A sample of 409 nursing students during clinical practice were invited to fill out a battery of self-report questionnaires in terms of their health education ability, self-directed learning ability and general self-efficacy. Results They scored 74.40±16.82 on health education ability, 65.77±11.42 on self-directed learning ability, and 22.21±15.26 on general self-efficacy. Health education ability was positively correlated with self-directed learning ability and general self-efficacy (P＜0.01 for both). Conclusion Health education ability of nursing students needs to be improved during clinical practice. Interventions targeting self-directed learning ability and general self-efficacy might improve health education ability of nursing students.