Objective To explore the application effect of clinical pathway teaching method in PICC maintenance teaching of nursing students. Methods: The 70 practicing nursing students from January 2018 to January 2020 in the Department of Oncology were divided into two groups by the method of random number table. The 35 nursing students included in the control group were taught by the conventional teaching method, while the 35 nurses included in the observation group were taught by the clinical pathway method. Both groups were taught for 4 weeks. After the completion of teaching, the adverse reactions of nursing students in the process of nursing patients were assessed theoretically and operationally. Results: The scores of theoretical knowledge and operational skills in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). In the process of nursing operation, the total incidence of adverse reactions in the observation group was 4.76%, which was significantly lower than that in the control group (15.24%) (P < 0.05). Objective: Clinical nursing pathway teaching method used in PICC maintenance teaching of nursing students can achieve good teaching effect, improve the theoretical and practical ability of nursing students and reduce the incidence of related adverse reactions, which is worthy of promotion.