Objective To explore the impact of personal digital assistant (PDA) information system on surgery operations, so as to provide basis for improving the efficiency of surgery operations and building medical research databases. Methods The data of patients undergoing surgical treatment in Northern Jiangsu People’s Hospital between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2020 were retrospectively analysised. According to whether to operate the PDA information system, the patients who did not use the PDA information system for surgical treatment between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019 were taken as the control group (before the operation), and the patients who used the PDA information system for surgical treatment between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020 were taken as the intervention group (after the operation). The quality of surgical operation, the time of anesthesia opening, the time of opening operation, the length of operation, and other operation indicators before and after the operation of the PDA information system were analyzed. Results A total of 59 610 patients were enrolled, including 27 726 in the control group and 31 884 in the intervention group. Compared with before the operation of the PDA information system, the total annual operation increased by 4 158 cases (15.00%), and the average turnover of per operation room increased (17.10%). The average anesthesia opening time is 14.52 minutes earlier. The average operation opening time is 18.25 minutes earlier. Except for gastrointestinal center surgery, thoracic surgery, neurology surgery, trauma center surgery, intensive care unit ward surgery, biliary and pancreatic surgery, hepatosplenic surgery, and other types of surgery (P>0.05), other types of surgeries were statistically significant differences in the operation duration before and after other operations (P<0.05). Conclusions The PDA information system developed based on "VariFlight" quantifies the quality of surgical operations more finely. It can effectively improve the operation efficiency and economic benefits of surgery, shorten the operation time, contribute to the construction of medical research databases.