BackgroundWith the changes in social and medical environments and people’s health needs, the nursing core competency should be updated and developed promptly. This study aimed to explore the core competencies of nurses in Chinese tertiary hospitals under the new health development strategy.MethodsDescriptive qualitative research was conducted using qualitative content analysis. 20 clinical nurses and nursing managers from 11 different provinces and cities were interviewed via purposive sampling.ResultsData analysis revealed 27 competencies, which were grouped into three major categories according to the onion model. These categories were motivation and traits (responsibility, enterprise, etc.), professional philosophy and values (professionalism, career perception, etc.), and knowledge and skills (clinical nursing competency, leadership and management competency, etc.).ConclusionBased on the onion model, core competencies for nurses in Chinese tertiary hospitals were established, revealing three layers of core competencies and giving a theoretical reference for nursing managers to conduct competency training courses based on the competency levels.