Objective To know the requirement of medication safety of patients during hospital stay, to direct the clinical nursing work, and to provide the scientific basis for clinical service. Methods The requirements of medication safety of 103 inpatients were surveyed through the convenience sampling method and using a self-designed questionnaire. The surveyed contents included 12 aspects such as the name of medicine, pharmacological effect and storage method, and so on. Results The inpatients hoped to know the knowledge of safety medication, especially paying attention to the special medication method (86.9%), the pharmacological effect (84.6%), the adverse effect of medicine (82.3%) and the factors influencing the effect of medicine (83.8%). There were statistical meanings in the 12 aspects among the patients with different education levels (P<0.05). There were statistical meanings in the period of medicine validity and pharmacological effect among patients with different gender. There were statistical meanings in the period of medicine validity among patients with different ages and patients without past medical history. Whether the patients took the medicine or not had statistical meaning in the period of medicine treatment. Conclusions To know the requirement of medication safety of inpatients can help the nurses adopt the corresponding measures and provide the pertinent nursing service to patients, thereby improving the quality of nursing service.