Objective To conduct a scoping review of the research on the application of visual art training in nursing teaching, and to provide a reference for nursing educators to apply this method in teaching or carry out related research. Methods Such databases as PubMed, Web of science, Cochrane Library, EMbase, CINAHL, CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, and CBM were searched for relevant publications published from the establishment of the database to December 31, 2022.The literature that met the inclusion criteria was selected, and all included literature was analyzed and discussed. Results A total of 23 publications were included.The results showed that visual art training could improve nursing students′ observation ability, communication skills, teamwork ability and critical thinking.The main limitations of the studies included that visual art training had not yet formed a systematic evaluation standard, the evaluation instruments needed to be improved, and the teaching results needed to be further tested. Conclusion Visual art training has shown positive outcomes and feasibility in nursing education.In future research, it is necessary to standardize the evaluation criteria and roll out teaching methods that bear fruits, design localized visual art training programs, so as to promote the development of visual art training in nursing education.