Objective To explore the efficacy of primary nursing in the postoperative care of patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. Methods Ninety patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures admitted to a hospital in Henan Province from June 2019 to December 2020 were selected for the study. The patients were divided into a control group（n=45） and a study group（n=45） using a random number table. Patients in the control group were given conventional nursing intervention. Patients in the study group were given primary nursing intervention. The scores of the visual analogue scale（VAS）

Barthel index（Barthel）

short form health survey（SF-36）

self-rating depression scale（SDS） and self-rating anxiety scale（SAS） before intervention and at discharge were compared between the 2 groups; the time to fracture healing

time to ambulation and length of hospital stay were compared between the 2 groups; the occurrence of complications at discharge was compared between the 2 groups. Results Before the intervention

there was no statistically significant difference between the VAS

Barthel

SDS and SAS scores of the 2 groups（P>0.05）. At discharge

the VAS

SDS and SAS scores of the 2 groups were lower than those before the intervention and lower in the study group than in the control group

with statistically significant differences（P<0.05）. At the time of discharge

the Barthel scores of patients in both groups were higher than before the intervention

and the study group had higher scores than the control group

with statistically significant differences（P<0.05）. The time to fracture healing

time to ambulation and length of hospital stay were shorter in the study group than in the control group

and the differences were statistically significant（P<0.05）. Before the intervention

there was no statistically significant difference between the scores for mental function

physical function

physical living status and social function in the SF-36 of the 2 groups of patients（P>0.05）. At the time of discharge

the SF-36 scores for mental function

physical function

physical living status and social function were higher in both groups than before the intervention and higher in the study group than in the control group

with statistically significant differences（P <0.05）. The complication rate of patients in the study group was 4.4%

which was lower than that of 17.8% in the control group

and the difference was statistically significant（P<0.05）. Conclusion The application of primary nursing in the postoperative care of patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures is effective; it can shorten the time to fracture healing

hospitalization time and time to ambulation

improve the quality of life of patients and reduce the incidence of complications

and is worthy of wider clinical application.