Objective To develop a Virtual Patient Nursing Inquiry Teaching System and evaluate its effects. Methods Based on the Functional Health Pattern,the framework of virtual case design in nursing consultation was constructed,including 17 projects. Twenty-one virtual cases were designed and optimized to establish the final Virtual Patient Nursing Inquiry Teaching System. A total of 46 nursing students from July to December 2017 in a hospital were recruited as the control group and routine practice schedule was used in this group. Another 44 nursing students from July to December 2018 were assigned to the experimental group. Besides routine practice schedule,the Virtual Patient Nursing Inquiry Teaching System was also used in the experimental group. Students’ ability of inquiry and critical thinking,and the experiences of students in the experimental group were all collected. Results There were statistically significant differences in ability of inquiry scores and critical thinking scores between the two groups（Z=-4.234,P<0.001;Z=-2.588,P=0.010）. 90.9% of the nursing students thought that the virtual cases of the system were consistent with the real clinical scenarios,and 93.2% of nursing students thought that the system could improve their interest and enthusiasm in nursing inquiry and help them adapt to clinical practice as soon as possible. Conclusion The Virtual Patient Nursing Inquiry Teaching System can effectively improve students’ nursing inquiry and critical thinking ability,and has a good feasibility.