ObjectiveTo investigate the preoperative cognition of the patients undergoing daytime ophthalmic fundus surgery and understand their needs of health education, so as to provide an evidence for efficient and accurate preoperative health education services within the limited time of the ophthalmic day fundus surgery.MethodsThe convenient sampling method was used to select the patients who met the inclusion criteria in the ambulatory operating room of Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University from December 2017 to May 2018. The study included three parts: the general information of the patients, the preoperative cognition of the patients, and the needs for health education service of the patients. Questionnaires were designed according to the research purpose and method, which were distributed and recovered by professionals.ResultsA total of 112 patients were included. Among them, the cognitive scores of operation process (2.57±0.56), preoperative diet (2.58±0.59), preoperative medication (2.60±0.64), and psychological status (2.58±0.65) were relatively low. More health education services were needed in three aspects: the cognition of operation details [operation duration (85.71%), surgeons (79.46%), operation start time (76.79%)], intraoperative cooperation (90.18%), and intervention for preoperative anxiety (78.57%).ConclusionNurses should formulate the contents of preoperative health education according to the preoperative cognition and nursing needs of patients, so as to provide efficient and accurate health education services for patients.