Objective To investigate the current career planning of the nurses of different capacity levels in the Operating Room and analyze the factors influencing career planning of clinical nurses, so as to provide reference material for the management of clinical nursing. Methods The self-designed questionnaire for the investigation on the current career planning of clinical nurses was applied in this study. One hundred and twenty-three nurses in the Operating Room in Shanghai Xinhua Hospital were selected as subjects by cluster sampling. Their basic information, career cognition and current career planning, self-cognition, occupational cognition, aspiration of occupational development, establishment and aim of occupation were collected. Statistical analyses were carried out with SPSS version 17.0. Results The total mark of career planning of the nurses in the Operating Room was (101.13±14.634). The nurses with N3 capacity level got the highest mark of career planning. The significant differences of the marks of career planning were found among the nurses with different capacity levels (P<0.01). The single factor analysis showed that the marks of career planning differed in the capacity level, marriage status and educational background significantly (P<0.05). The multiple regression analysis showed that the main factors, which influenced the marks of career planning of the nurses, were years of working, educational background and marriage status (P<0.05). As for becoming a manager of nursing or doing research of nursing, the significant differences were found among nurses with different capacity levels (P<0.05). Conclusions It is necessary to manage career planning and its performance of the nurses with different capacity levels in Operating Rooms with diversified methods. Key words: Operating Room nurse; Capacity level; Career plan; Influencing factor