Objective To explore the psychological stress of young nurses facing patients' death. Methods Young nurses in emergency department, ICU and hospice care ward (96 cases, research group) and young nurses in other departments(94 cases,control group)from 8 general hospitals were investigated by self-rating anxiety scale (SAS)and serf-rating depression scale (SDS).The results underwent comparison and analysis. Results SAS and SDS score,incidence of anxiety and depression in the research group were higher than those of the control group (P ＜ 0.05). Conclusions Young nurses who face patients' death frequently have high incidence rate of psychological stress.They show low psychological health level which deserves the close attention of nursing managers.