Objective To observe effect of cluster nursing in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP).

Methods A total of 88 cases were selected as study subjects, and were divided into control group (n=44) and observation group (n=44) according to random number table method. The control group received traditional nursing intervention on the basis of conventional treatment, and the observation group received cluster nursing intervention on the basis of control group. The pain, improvement of clinical symptoms, occurrence of complications and satisfaction during hospitalization were observed and compared between the two groups.

Results After intervention, the proportion of patients with severe pain in the observation group was lower than that in the control group, and the proportion of patients with mild pain or no pain was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). After intervention, the time of abdominal pain disappearance, fever reduction, abdominal distension relief, defecation time and exhaust time in the observation group were (2.28±0.59), (4.56±0.75), (3.78±0.32), (2.51±0.44), (2.96±0.18) d, respectively, which were shorter than (3.16±0.41), (5.33±1.38), (4.12±0.53), (3.42±0.50), (3.59±0.71) d, respectively in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The total incidence of complications in the observation group was 6.82%, which was lower than 31.82% in the control group (P < 0.05). The total satisfaction rate of the observation group was higher than that of control group (97.72% versus 75.00%, P < 0.05).

Conclusion Cluster nursing management for AP patients can effectively relieve the clinical symptoms of abdominal pain and abdominal distension, promote the recovery of gastrointestinal function, reduce the incidence of complications and improve patients′ nursing satisfaction in AP patients.