Objective To understand the application status and effect of gamification teaching in nursing education, and to provide a reference for carrying out related research of gamification teaching. Methods According to the research method of scope review, the literature on the application of gamification teaching in nursing education in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, CNKI, SinoMed, Wanfang data and VIP were searched by computer. The searchframe was from the database inception to February 27, 2024, and the literature was screened, summarized and analyzed. Results A total of 15 studies were included. The main types of gamification teaching included traditional games, virtual simulation practice, scenario simulation, role playing and digital online education platform. Gamification teaching had a positive effect on improving theoretical and practical ability, comprehensive quality, and emotion & attitude. But there was no unified standard of teaching evaluation tools at present. Conclusion Gamification teaching is widely used in nursing education at home and abroad, and its teaching effectiveness has been preliminarily confirmed. However, it needs further improvement and optimization in the development of gamification teaching resources, evaluation system and teaching design.