Objective To investigate clinical nurses′ innovation ability in China, to explore the influencing factors, and provide strategies for future training programs aiming at improving the innovation ability of nurses. Methods The Nurse Innovation Ability Scale was used to investigate 21 535 nurses in 877 various levels of hospitals in different provinces and cities of China. Results The ave-rage score of clinical nurses′ innovation ability was（137.96±21.16） points, with the mean or median (P25,P75) scores of dimensions were （58.53±9.09） points for innovation subject, 40（36,46） points for innovation process, 27（21,29） points for innovation environment and pressure, and 13（9,15） points for innovative products.The three items with the highest scores all came from the dimension of innovation subject, and the items with lowest scores included 1 from the dimension of innovation subject and 2 from the dimension of innovation product. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that ages, genders, departments, technical titles, administrative roles, numbers of patents, numbers of publications were significantly associated with nurses′ innovation ability （P＜0.05,P＜0.01）. Conclusion The innovation ability of clinical nurses is at ordinary level, and affected by multiple factors.Nursing managers should provide trainings on innovation awareness, and provide necessary conditions and policy support for the practice and transformation of nursing innovation.