Objective To explore the application effect of quality control circle activities in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus （T2DM）.Methods A total of 64 patients with T2DM receiving hypoglycemic drugs in our hospital were selected.Since March 2018, quality control circle activities had been implemented.Twelve months before the start of the activity (September 2017 to September 2018) were listed as before activity and twelve months after the start of the activity (January to December 2019) were listed as after activity.Before the activity, the patients were given routine nursing, including medication guidance, dietary guidance, health exercise guidance and so on.After the activity, the patients were given quality control circle activity on the basis of routine nursing.The implementation process of quality control circle included the establishment of quality control circle team, theme selection, current situation analysis, goal setting, cause analysis and countermeasures formulation.The correctness rate of oral medication and the quality control circle score (problem solving ability, communication and coordination ability, team cohesion, self-confidence, enthusiasm, responsibility and quality control circle manipulation) were compared before and after activities.Results The correct rate of taking medicine after activity was 90.63%, which was higher than that before activity, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).The scores of problem-solving ability, communication and coordination ability, team cohesion, self-confidence, initiative, responsibility and quality control circle skills of the group members after the activity were higher than those before the activity, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).Conclusion Quality control circle activities can effectively improve the correct rate of taking therapeutic drugs for elderly patients with T2DM, and strive to improve the professional level and quality of nursing staff, improve the quality of nursing service, which is worthy of clinical application.