Objective To investigate the status of occupational cognition and turnover intention among nursing staff in nursing home institutions in Ningbo and to analyze the relationship between them.Methods A total of 224 nursing staffs,who worked in 8 nursing home institutions in Ningbo,had been selected by convenient sampling method and investigate by general information scale and occupational cognition scale,and the result was analysed by descriptive statistical analysis,single factor analysis,Spearman relatively analysis and regression analysis.Results The total score of turnover intention was (14.50 ± 4.42),which was in a high level;the total score of occupation cognition was (109.25 ± 15.85),which was negatively correlated to the score of turnover intention (P ＜ 0.01);each dimensions of occupation cognition was negatively correlated to turnover intention (P ＜ 0.01),among which career identity,interpersonal relationship and job satisfaction were the influencing factors of turnover intention for nursing staffs.Conclusions The occupation cognition,especially career identity,has significant influence on the turnover intention of nursing staffs in nursing home institutions.