Objective To explore a multi-dimensional nursing post performance management system based on hospital development as the objective and workload account as the foundation. Methods A total of 1 321 nursing staff in the nursing post of Changzhou Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University was selected as the study object, to observe the effect of the nursing performance appraisal team formally established in our hospital since November 2015 on nursing performane, the nursing department, the management office, etc departments jointly developed the nursing performance allocation principle, program and allocation method, the hospital resource planning (HRP) system, hospital information system (HIS) and self-made questionnaire were used to collect data, and the changes of various indexes before implementation of performance reform (from December 2014 to November 2015) and after implementation of performance reform (from December 2015 to November 2016) were compared and analyzed; the indexes were as follows: average monthly business income, average monthly nursing income, annual clinical non-receivable consumables expenditure, nursing human resources flexible allocation rate, nurses' degree of satisfaction with performance (remuneration and paying score, performance assessment system score) and qualified rate of nursing care quality. Results After the implementation of performance reform, average monthly business income, the average monthly nursing income, nursing human resources flexible allocation rate, compensation, paying scores and performance appraisal system scores were significantly higher than those before the implementation of performance reform [average monthly business income (ten thousand yuan): 13 653.24±1 309.49 vs. 11 869.26±991.16, average monthly nursing income (ten thousand yuan): 264.2 (252.1, 269.7) vs. 88.5 (80.8, 95.2), the ratio of nursing human resources flexible allocation rate: (1.74±0.52)% vs. (0.43±0.23)%, compensation and payment score: 4.76 (4.62, 4.85) vs. 3.47 (3.12, 3.60), performance appraisal system score: 4.88 (4.78, 4.95) vs. 2.80 (2.70, 3.14)], the difference was statistically significant (all P < 0.05), the annual clinical non-receivable consumables expenditure was decreased significantly compared with those before implementation performance reform (million yuan: 1.88±0.21 vs. 2.62±0.14, P < 0.05), and the qualified rate of nursing quality after performance appraisal were significantly improved compared with those before performance appraisal [nursing grading: (97.83±1.90)% vs. (91.11±1.61)%, ward management: (96.64±2.90)% vs. (90.06±2.40)%, nursing writing: (97.30±2.51)% vs. (91.33±1.96)%, nursing safety: (97.40±2.67)% vs. (90.13±1.96)%, first aid items: (97.44±2.64)% vs. (92.27±2.56)%, perioperative period: (96.86±2.50)% vs. (90.83±3.06)%, blood transfusion quality: (97.51±2.21)% vs. (92.13±2.37)%, disinfection and isolation: (97.43±2.70) % vs. (88.50±2.57)%, basic operation: (93.48±2.22)% vs. (87.51±2.03)%, practical ability: (93.38±1.97)% vs. (85.85±2.58)%, all P < 0.05]. Conclusion The establishment and application of the new performance management system mobilizes the enthusiasm of the department to actively control costs and decrease the expenditure of non-chargeable consumables, the nursing management staff can more flexibly arrange human resources and exert the management potential of middle-level cadres, and the nurses' degree of satisfaction and the nursing quality are significantly higher than those before nursing performance reform.