Objective To investigate the effect of video-based teaching in the training of nursing operation for newly-contracted nurses. Methods One hundred and twenty one nurses newly recruited in September 2011 to September 2012 were set as the control group, another 128 in October 2012 to October 2013 were set as the experiment group. The former were trained and assessed with traditional training method and the latter were trained for 1 year in video-based teaching methodology. After training, both groups were examined about their operation skills and meanwhile a survey on video-based teaching was conducted. Result After training, the results in operating skills evaluation in the experiment group were significantly better those of the control group (Z=2.82, P<0.05). Conclusion Compared with traditional training method, the video-based teaching can raise the level of nursing operation skills and significantly improve the quality of nursing, thus worthy of popularization and application.