Abstract: OBJECTIVE To explore the effect of pathway management on prevention of perioperative respiratory tract infections in patients of orthopedics department.METHODS A total of 1 467 patients who were hospitalized for surgery in the orthopedics department from Jul 2015 to Jun 2016 were chosen as the observation group, and the pathway management was carried out; totally 1 534 patients who were hospitalized for surgery in the orthopedics department from Jul 2014 to Jun 2015 were set as the control group, and the conventional nursing was conducted.The incidence of respiratory tract infections, hospitalization duration, hospitalization cost, acquisition rate of health knowledge, and satisfaction were observed and compared between the two groups of patients.RESULTS The incidence rate of respiratory tract infections of the observation group was lower than that of the control group, the average hospitalization duration of the observation group was significantly shorter than that of the control group, the rate of acquisition of health knowledge and satisfaction of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group(P＜0.05).Although the average medical cost of the observation group was less than that of the control group, there was no significant difference.CONCLUSIONThe pathway management may effectively reduce the incidence of perioperative respiratory tract infections in the patients of orthopedics department, shorten the hospitalization duration, save the medical cost, and raise the rate of acquisition of health knowledge and satisfaction of the patients; it is worthy to be promoted in the hospital.