Objective To explore the application of health education based on chain management model in the prevention of stress injury in gastric cancer inpatients. Methods One hundred and twenty-three gastric cancer patients admitted to a hospital in Nanyang from March 2018 to March 2020 were selected and divided into a control group（60 cases） and an observation group（63 cases） using the random number table method. Patients in the control group received conventional health education

and patients in the observation group received health education based on chain management model. The patients in the 2 groups were compared in terms of pain level and quality of life before and after the intervention as well as comfort of care

stress injury and the incidence of complications. Results The difference was not statistically significant（P>0.05） when comparing the VAS scores of patients in the 2 groups before the intervention; the VAS scores of patients in the 2 groups at 3 d

5 d and 7 d after the intervention were lower than those before the intervention

and the VAS scores of patients in the observation group at 3 d

5 d and 7 d after the intervention were lower than those in the control group

with statistically significant differences（P<0.05）. The incidence of stress injury in patients in the observation group was 1.59%（1/63）

which was lower than that of 3.33%（2/60） in the control group

but the difference was not statistically significant（χ2=0.631; P=0.427）. The physical comfort and psychological comfort scores of patients in the observation group were 80.79±4.16 and 86.74±3.17

respectively

which were higher than those of the control group at 63.87±4.18 and 76.16±3.19

and the differences were both statistically significant（χ2=29.847 and 21.557

both P<0.05）. The scores for the physical function

social function

cognitive function and quality of life dimensions in the QOL-30 were higher after the intervention and higher in the observation group than in the control group

with statistically significant differences（P<0.05）. The incidence of complications was 6.35%（4/63） in the observation group

which was lower than that of 18.33%（11/60） in the control group

and the difference was statistically significant（χ2=4.122

P=0.042）. Conclusion Health education based on chain management model can help reduce pain

decrease the incidence of stress injury and complications

and improve comfort during hospitalization and quality of life for gastric cancer inpatients.