Objective To analyze and consider the design for nursing English course through the investigation of demands for nursing English in 6 domestic high-end medical institutions.Methods Firstly,a face-to-face discussion was held with 10 experts in nursing management from above-mentioned institutions,field notes were made and themes were refined afterwards.Then,111 nurses were investigated in the 6 hospitals using purposive sampling method by filling questionnaire.Results In the teaching content,77 kinds of diseases were involved,including 27 most common ones; on the aspect of teaching methods and skills,90.1％ of the nurses recommended situational dialogue,72.1％ in favor of case teaching,92.8％ believed that nursing English course should cultivate students' communication skills; Its teaching emphasis in turn included vocabulary,communication capability,nursing knowledge (89.2％,88.3％,73.0％).Conclusions The objective of nursing English course should focus on cultivating nurse students' applied capability including listening,reading,speaking and written English.The textbook of nursing English should be written based on the characteristics of common diseases in the hospital stressing on nursing knowledge,vocabulary and communication skills.Teaching method of nursing English should consider the situational teaching model in hospital nursing English.