Objective To explore the scientific literacy of medical personnel, and to provide reference for further improving their scientific research ability. Methods We conducted 2 nominal group technique including 16 medical staff from Hospital H, and according to the interview results, items were summarized and scored according to their importance in July 2022. Results Scientific literacy of medical staff includes 2 first-level items, 7 second-level items and 32 third-level items. The scores of professional ability, problem finding ability and scientific research attitude in second-level literacy items are higher, while the scores of ability to propose scientific research problems, research project design ability and literature reading ability in third-level literacy items are higher. Conclusion Professional ability is the most basic scientific research quality of medical staff, putting forward scientific questions and carrying out project design is the most important scientific research quality, paper writing ability is the key quality of scientific research output, scientific research attitude is the motivation to carry out scientific research, the establishment of professional scientific research team and cross-disciplinary cooperation can improve the scientific research ability of medical staff.