Objective To explore the effects of a phased training with four topics approach on practically ethical ability of new nurses. Methods A total of 97 new nurses who joined in the hospital in 2016 for standardized training were recruited and four topics approach was used for the ethical training.A table was developed with four themes of nursing ethics,including medical adaptability,patient selection,quality of life,and situational characteristics. In the first stage,the basic theoretical knowledge of nursing ethics and concepts of four topics were taught. In the second stage,group discussion was conducted guided by the table with flipped classroom and PBL method. In the third stage,clinical cases and nursing problems were analyzed using the table. The changes of the theoretical knowledge scores and practically ethical ability were compared pre-training and post-training. Results The theoretical score of post-training（77.14±22.26） was significantly higher than that of the pre-training（38.47±20.51）（t=15.89,P<0.001）. There were no significant differences regarding the practically ethical ability scores in phases 2 and phase 1（P=0.146）. However,the score of phase 3 was significantly higher than those of phase 1 and 2（P<0.001）.Conclusion The approach of four topics can improve the ethical awareness,ethical decision-making ability and practical nursing service ability of new nurses.