Objective To construct a nursing intervention program for patients with acute pancreatitis based on the innovation diffusion theory, and explore its application effect in clinical practice.

Methods Different period controls were adopted. Samples were drawn by convenience sampling. Forty-eight patients admitted to the hospital from December 2023 to August 2024 were assigned to the control group, and 48 patients admitted to the hospital from September 2024 to August 2025 were assigned to the observation group. The control group adopted conventional nursing methods, while the observation group adopted the nursing intervention plan based on the innovation diffusion theory. The changes in symptom clusters, fear of disease progression (FoP-QSF) and health behavior ability (SRAHP) scores between two groups before and after the intervention were compared.

Results At admission, there was no statistically significant differences in the scores of the three symptom clusters of digestive tract, fatigue and psychology, scores of each dimension and total score of FoP-QSF and scores of each dimension and total score of SRAHP between two groups (P ＞ 0.05). At discharge and one month after discharge, the scores of the three symptom clusters in the observation group were all lower than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05 to P ＜ 0.01). At discharge, the FoP-QSF score of the observation group was lower than that of the control group (P ＜ 0.01). At discharge, the SRAHP score of the observation group was higher than that of the control group in all dimensions and the total score (P ＜ 0.05). except the exercise dimension (P ＞ 0.05). One month after discharge, all dimensions and total scores of SRAHP in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05 to P ＜ 0.01). The scores of the three symptom clusters of the two groups of patients all showed a decreasing trend along the intervention timeline, and the degree of decrease was more obvious in the observation group (P ＜ 0.05 to P ＜ 0.01).

Conclusions The nursing intervention program based on the innovation diffusion theory, through systematic and multi-stage intervention, can effectively improve the symptom clusters of AP patients, alleviate the fear of disease progression, and enhance the ability of healthy behaviors. The program is highly operational, and can provide a scientific basis and practical reference for the rehabilitation nursing of patients with acute pancreatitis in clinical practice.