Introduction: In recent years, the use of portfolio as a learning and assessment method has become more widespread in medical education. The aim of this study was to examine nursing students’ satisfaction toward using portfolio for educating and assessment of community health nursing apprenticeship.

Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. The study samples included all the final year nursing students (n = 30) which were spread in 10 urban health centers of Ilam city. The urban health centers were randomly allocated to each of the experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, the education and assessment were performed using portfolio and in the control group, the learning and assessment activities were conducted using the routine method. The data collection tool was a validated questionnaire designed according to previous studies, which was filled by the study participants in both groups after the intervention.

Results: The finding showed that the mean (SD) of overall satisfaction scores in experimental and control groups were 21.26 (2.15) and 14.46 (2.77), respectively (P < 0.001). Furthermore, in most of the satisfaction items of the questionnaire, the participants of the experimental group had significantly higher scores than the control group.

Conclusions: The findings of this study highlighted the effectiveness of portfolio as a learning and assessment tool of nursing students in apprenticeship courses. However, it is essential that students and tutors be given clear guidelines on principle and structure of the portfolio.