Objectives This study attempted to investigate the factors affecting nursing students' nursing handover competence and to identify the relationship between clinical decision-making ability, clinical reasoning ability, and handover self-efficacy to serve as a basis for future handover education courses for nursing students. Methods This study is a descriptive survey study. 145 nursing students The data were collected from September 26, 2023 to October 13, 2023 from 145 nursing students at a university. The data were analyzed by frequency and percentage, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation Coefficient using SPSS/WIN 28.0 program. Results Nursing handoff competency was positively correlated with clinical decision-making ability (r=.384, p=.000), clinical reasoning ability (r=.541, p=.000), and handoff self-efficacy (r=.656, p=.000). The most significant predictors of nursing handoff competence were handoff self-efficacy (β=0.422, p<.001), clinical reasoning ability (β=0.270, p<.001), Satisfaction with Academic Major (β=0.192, p=.019), grade ((β=-.13, p=.036), and Handover Fear (β=-0.224, p=.007), with an explanatory power of 49.0%. Conclusions The factors that affect nursing handover competency are cognitive processes, such as problem solving, communication, judgment, and perception, and efforts are needed to maintain the quality and continuity of care. Therefore, it is necessary to develop teaching methods and build systems to improve clinical decision-making, clinical reasoning, handover self-efficacy, and enhance nursing handover competency.