Abstract： Objective： To observe the effect of the combination use of Chinese medicine emotional nursing and external application with Chinese medicinals on gastrointestinal motility and unhealthy psychology in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP). Methods：A total of 189 AP patients were selected and divided into the observation group (98 cases) and the control group (91 cases) according to different nursing plans. The control group was treated with routine nursing combined with external application with Chinese medicinals， and the observation group was additionally treated with Chinese medicine emotional nursing based on the treatment of the control group. The improvement of gastrointestinal motility disorder after intervention and the incidence of complications during intervention were compared between the two groups；the changes of scores of Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item (GAD-7)， Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were compared before and after intervention between the two groups. Results：After intervention，the first exhaust time，defecation time，bowel sound recovery time and relief time of abdominal distention and pain in the observation group were respectively shorter than those in the control group，differences being significant (P＜0.05). After intervention，the scores of GAD-7 and PHQ-9 in the two groups were decreased when compared with those before intervention (P＜0.05)， and SF-36 scores were elevated when compared with those before intervention (P＜0.05)；the scores of GAD-7 and PHQ-9 in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P＜0.05)，and the SF-36 score was higher than that in the control group (P＜0.05). During the intervention，the incidence of complications was 4.08% in the observation group and 16.48% in the control group，the difference being significant (P＜0.05). Conclusion：The combination use of Chinese medicine emotional nursing and external application with Chinese medicinals can alleviate the gastrointestinal dysfunction and improve the unhealthy psychological state of AP patients.