Objective To investigate the level and determinants of intention to stay among nurses in first-class tertiary hospitals in Shanghai, and to provide evidence for optimizing nursing human resource management. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1 035 nurses from 5 first-class tertiary hospitals in Shanghai using the Work Stress Scale of Nurses, Workplace Violence Frequency Scale,Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the Intention to Retention Scale. Results The samples scored 16.98±4.02 on intention to stay, and 63.19% of them reported intention to remain employed. The scores of intention to retention showed significant differences among nurses working in different department, having different length of work experience, professional title, and clinical role function, experiencing work stress and workplace violence, and reporting different level of resilience (P＜0.05,P＜0.01). Logistic regression analysis revealed that nurses′ intention to stay was affected by length of work experience, role of nurse, work stress, workplace violence and resilience (P＜0.05,P＜0.01). Conclusion Nurses working in first-class tertiary hospitals in Shanghai report lower level of intention to retention, especially those who have worked 5-16 years, who are clinical nurse, who have severe job stress, who have experienced workplace violence, and who have low resilience.