Abstract: Objective: To explore the current work status and work barriers of orthopedic nurse specialists in Anhui province. Methods: A total of 99 nurses in the training program of orthopedic nurse specialists between 2012 and 2014 participated in the study. They were surveyed by a self-designed questionnaire. Results: Of all the 99 participants, 89 (89.9%)worked as an orthopedic nurse, and 10 (10.1%) no longer worked in the orthopedic department; 35 (35.4%) participants took part in the nursing consultation work of the hospital, 74 (74.7%) undertook nursing students’ teaching work, 52 (52.5%) shoulder the work of training young nurse and 20 (20.2%) took part in teaching college nursing students. Only 25.5% nurses had a special position in their hospitals, 63.6% nurses had published papers, 37.4% had participated in certain project and 36.4% had carried on a new technical program. More than half (64.6%) of participants thought “there is no definition of clinical nurse specialist’s work”, “difficult to do the special work only” (63.6%), “no more gain of doing nursing special work” (60.6%) and “working overload (57.6%)” were the barriers to special nursing work. Conclusion: It is necessary to increase the selection criterion of orthopedic nurse specialists, taking advantage of their innovation and research ability properly. Hospitals should optimize human resources, and set up specialization position to promote the further development of special nursing work.