Abstract: Objective: To investigate the turnover status of nurses in tertiary hospitals of Guangdong province,to strengthen the management of nursing human resources, and to guarantee the quality of nursing work. Methods: A questionnaire survey was carried out in 110 tertiary hospitals in Guangdong province using cluster sampling method.Results: The turnover rates from 2011 to 2014 were 6.66%, 7.25%, 6.72%, 5.54%, respectively. More than 7.7% of the hospitals had turnover rates higher than 10% with the highest rate 46.25%. Nurses with less than 5 working-years accounted for 68.2% of the total turnover rate. About 88.5% of the turnover nurses were voluntary turnover and 2.7% of the turnover nurses were transferred to other positions. The causes of nurses' turnover were diversified, and the family factors, compensation factors and returning to homeland were the main factors of resignation. Conclusion: Before the implementation of nurse post management, the turnover rate of nurses increased year by year while the turnover rate of nurses has a downward trend after the implementation of post management. It is necessary to attach importance to improving the environment of nursing practice, to strengthening the management of nursing positions, to focusing on the humanistic care of nurses, to improving human resource management mechanism, and to promoting the steady development of nursing staff.