Objective To explore the path relationship of working stress , self-esteem and the sense of achievement for acute critical care nurses .Methods Using the method of convenient sampling , a questionnaire survey was conducted on 265 emergency nurses and ICU nurses . The questionnaire included general information , nurse burnout scale , self-esteem scale and nurse stress scale .Results Totals of 265 questionnaires were distributed, and 255 questionnaires were returned , with an effective rate of 96.2%.The scores of stress scale for nurses who worked for one year , two-five years and over five years were (3.03 ±0.40), (3.12 ± 0.54) and (3.06 ±0.39), respectively.There was a significant difference among groups (F=23.534,P=0.00).The scores of self-esteem for nurses who worked for one year , two-five years and over five years were (19.87 ±2.17), (20.19 ±1.98) and (18.93 ±2.87), with a statistically significant difference (F=21.391, P=0.00) .The scores of working achievement for nurses who worked for one year , two-five years and over five years were (4.18 ±1.64), (4.25 ±1.43) and (4.20 ±1.63), and the difference was significant (F =18.733, P=0.00).There was a negative correlation between the critical nurses'working achievement and working stress (r=-0.317, -0.271, -0.211, -0.231, -0.356, respectively;P <0.05), and the working achievement and the self -esteem was positively related (r=0.357,P<0.01).The self-esteem was not completely intermediary between working stress and working achievement , and the indexes of model fitting were χ2/df=1.244,P=0.305, RMSEA=0.019, NFI=0.977, RFI=0.984, IFI=0.987, TLI=0.960, CFI=0.937.Conclusions Self-esteem plays a significant intermediary role between working stress and working achievement for acute and critical care nurses .