Objective To investigate the effectiveness of a nurse-led surgical wound management model in postoperative wound care for patients undergoing tophi surgery.

Methods A total of 52 postoperative tophi surgery patients were randomly divided into control and observation groups, with 26 cases each. The control group received routine postoperative care, while the observation group was managed nurse-led surgical wound management model in addition to routine care. Postoperative complication rates, hospitalization duration and costs, quality of life evaluated by Quality of Life (QOL), nursing satisfaction, pain intensity evaluated by Numberic Rating Scale (NRS), and wound recovery evaluated by Wound Bed Score (WBS) were compared between the two groups.

Results The observation group demonstrated significantly shorter hospitalization duration, lower costs, fewer complications, and higher nursing satisfaction compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Additionally, the observation group exhibited superior QOL scores (after intervention), lower NRS scores (postoperative day 1, 3, 7), and improved WBS scores (postoperative day 3, 7, 14) (P < 0.05).

Conclusion The nurse-led surgical wound management model enhances postoperative recovery in tophi surgery patients by accelerating wound healing, reducing pain duration and shortening hospitalization time, lowering costs and complication rates, and improving quality of life.