Objective To describe the current situation of human resources of nurses in the anesthesiology department of Jiangsu province，and provide a reference for standardized management of anesthesia nursing in Jiangsu province. Methods A self‑made questionnaire was used to investigate the operating room head nurses of 179 level Ⅱ and above hospitals in Jiangsu province. The questionnaire include the preface, basic information of the hospital, the setting of nursing posts in the department of anesthesiology, the management of nursing posts in the department of anesthesiology, and the human resources of nurses in the department of anesthesiology. Results One hundred and seventy‑one questionnaires have been recycled, and 160 hospitals have been equipped with anesthesia nursing in 171 hospitals investigated, there are 1 297 anesthesia nurses. Hospitals with only 10 or less anesthesia nurses account for 80.63%; in 122 hospitals (71.34%) which have set up post‑anesthesia care unit (PACU) anesthesia nursing posts, there are 866 PACU beds and the nurse-to-bed ratio is 0.61∶1.00; four hospitals (2.34%) that have set up anesthesia intensive care unit (AICU) anesthesia nursing posts have 31 AICU beds, nurse-to-bed ratio is 1.74∶1.00; the 91 hospitals (53.22%) that have set up anesthesia nursing posts in operating rooms have 1 203 operating rooms, and the ratio of anesthesia nurses to operating rooms is 0.35∶1.00; there are 74 hospitals (43.27%) that have opened the post of anesthesia nursing outside the operating room, including 11 sub-categories; the development level of human resources of nurses in the anesthesiology was quite different among hospitals. The anesthesia nurses are still mainly young nurses with low experience, with 75.25% nurses with less than 6 years working experience in the department of anesthesiology and 39.48% nurses under 30 years old. Conclusions Anesthesia nursing in Jiangsu province has been developed rapidly, but there are still some problems such as a lack of manpower, uneven management mode, and small development scale. It is suggested that according to the actual clinical needs of hospitals, anesthesia nursing teams should be built vigorously to meet the people's needs for anesthesia health and safety.