Objective To investigate the current situation of nursing risk cognition among newly hired nurses, explore its influencing factors, and provide references for pre-graduation and post-entry education of newly hired nurses.

Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the risk cognition of 342 nursing staffs hired within one week from September to November 2021 in medical institutions at or above secondary level in Bengbu city.

Results The total score of nursing risk cognition was (50.17±9.57) points, and the four dimensions scored from high to low were medical legal knowledge, occupational protection knowledge, nursing risk management knowledge, and nursing rules and regulations.The advantageous entries of risk cognition in each dimension were "patient′s informed consent, content of the three checks and seven pairs system, when to wash hands and wear gloves, and what were common nursing risk events".The weak entries of risk cognition were "potential legal problems in care work, correct writing and revising medical records, what were infectious pathogens, and the handling of care risk events".The results of univariate analysis showed that the starting education degree of nursing major, graduation degree of nursing major, and level of internship hospital had statistically significant impacts on the nursing risk cognition of newly hired nurses (P < 0.01).The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that the graduation degree of nursing major was the main factor affecting nursing risk cognition (β=3.704, P < 0.01).

Conclusions The nursing risk cognition level of newly hired nurses is high, but it still needs to improve.To deal with the weak areas of risk cognition in newly hired nurses, it needs nursing colleges, internship hospitals, and hiring hospitals to work together, pay attention to education level of newly hired nurses, targetedly do well in risk education of nursing reserve talents, gradually improve the risk education system of nursing talents, truly implement the three-wide education concept, so as to cultivate qualified nursing personnels, and ensure the safety of patients.