Objective To explore the influence of MiniQuest teaching model on improving critical thinking ability of nurses in Department of Orthopedics. Methods From January to May 2017, 76 nurses in Orthopedics Department from 4 Class Ⅲ hospitals of one province were selected as the research objects. The nurses of 2 hospitals were set up as the observation group by drawing method of head nurse, and the nurses of the other 2 hospitals were set as the control group, with 36 cases in the observation group and 40 in the control group. The nurses in the control group were taught by routine department work. The observation group was trained with MiniQuest teaching method, and the Critical Thinking Ability Scale was used to compare the critical thinking of 2 groups of nurses. Results The fact finding, open thinking, analytical ability, systematic ability, critical thinking self-confidence, cognitive maturity and total score of the Critical Thinking Ability Scale of the observation group were higher than those of the control group, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the score of dimension of thirst for knowledge between the two groups of nurses (P>0.05). Conclusions MiniQuest teaching model can improve the critical thinking ability of nurses in department of orthopedics, and it is worthy of popularizing.