Objective To innovate the teaching design of the Advanced Health Assessment course，and to promote the cultivation of clinical practice ability and civic and political literacy of students of master of nursing specialist. Methods This study was conducted for two consecutive sessions of an advanced health assessment course，in which 91 nursing master’s degree students of a university in the grades of 2021 and 2022 were taught in an "independent-cooperative-inquiry-reflective" innovative teaching style. Data from students’ submitted reflection reports were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching. Results A total of 364 reflection reports were submitted by 91 students，and three themes were condensed：consolidation of professional knowledge and skills；enhancement of comprehensive competence（improvement of independent learning ability，enhancement of clinical inquiry and critical thinking ability，strengthening of teamwork awareness，and change of thinking style）；and enhancement of literacy（feeling of responsibility，promotion of professional identity，enhancement of scientific research interest，enhancement of ethical literacy，and enhancement of humanistic literacy）. In addition，some students also indicated that there were problems such as insufficient communication skills，clinical adaptability to be improved，and health education skills to be strengthened. Conclusion The innovative teaching of Advanced Health Assessment course cultivates the comprehensive clinical practice ability of nursing master’s degree students through autonomous，cooperative and inquiry teaching design，and further guides students to conduct in-depth thinking and rumination through reflection teaching design to sublimate the students’ civic and political literacy.