Abstract: Objective To examine current status and problems about professional skills among nursing staff in nursing facilities for the elderly in western area of Liaoning province for making measures to improve overall quaility of the nursing staff.Methods With a self-designed questionnaire,relevent information were collected among 252 nursing staff in 38 nursing facilities for older persons in 5 cities and 10 counties of western area of Liaoning province.Results Among the nursing staff,53.57% were less than or equal to 30-years-old;46.23% had working experience of more than 30 years and 43.66% less than 10 years;60.32% had the education of under college level;30.96% were formal employees;62.70% did not took any training program and 61.11% had no nursing qualification certificate.Of the nursing staff,94.84% considered the necessity of professional training.There were more staff considering the necessity of professional training in formally employed staff than in temporarily employed staff(P<0.05).Conclusion The professional quality of nursing staff in nursing facilities for the elderly is low and needs to be improved for the development of endowment system in western area of Liaoning province.