Purpose: This study was aimed to identify the relationships among job stress, nursing performance, and retention intention of clinical nurse. Methods: Data was collected at a hospitals located in Seoul, from October 19 to October 26 in 2010. Total subjects were 270. Data was analyzed by PASW 18.0 program. Results: Job stress of the subjects was 3.69(0.43). Nursing performance of the subjects was 3.69(0.45). Retention intention of the subjects was 3.21(0.78). Job stress and nursing performance were correlated positively (r=0.276, p<0.001). Nursing performance and retention intension were correlated positively (r=0.151, p=0.05). But job stress were correlated with nursing performance negatively (r=-0.127, p=0.05). Conclusion: According to increasing the nursing performance and decreasing the job stress, retention intension of clinical nurse is increased. We suggest a new study on mediation effect by nursing performance on retention intention and to predict factors on retention intension.