Abstract: Objective  To explore nursing undergraduates’ perceptions,  attitudes,  and experiences when preparing for National Medical Technical Skills Competition for College Students,  to summarize promoting and hindering factors in participation in this competition,  and to provide reference for nursing students to take part in future event.  Methods  We conducted semi-structure interviews to collect the data of 14 participants from four schools in Jiangsu,  Jiangxi and Guangxi provinces. The manuscripts were transcribed and analyzed with Colaizzi’s 7-step analysis. Results   We gained insight into the promoting and hindering factors of students’ competition participation. The promoting factors include “the improvement of individuals’ ability”,  “the development of career”,  and “the improvement of social relationships”. The hindering factors were comprised of “school’s indifference to the competition”,  “teachers’ inadequate preparation”,  “personal factors” and “the high demands and challenges of the competition”. Conclusion  Nursing schools should pay more attention to and publicize the national competition and promote the construction of high-level instructor teams. Additionally,  it is critically important to focus on and coordinate the preparation arrangement of teachers and nursing students in order to facilitate participation and to improve the performance.

Key words: nursing, undergraduates, competition, qualitative research