Objective To evaluate the application effect of goal management theory in prevention and control of nosocomial infection in rehabilitation hospital.Methods Convalescent patients admitted to the Rehabilitation Hospital for Honorably Discharged Veterans from January 2021 to December 2022 were selected as the study objects,402 patients from January 1 to December 31,2021 were selected as the control group and received routine care,and 427 patients from January 1 to December 31,2022 were selected as the intervention group,and set goals and implement targeted intervention measures on the basis of the control group according to the goal management theory.The hand hygiene compliance,the qualified rate of environmental hygiene monitoring and the incidence of nosocomial infection were compared between the two groups.Results The compliance rate of nurses in the intervention group was 88.54%,higher than that in the control group(69.79%),the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.01).The qualified rate of environmental health monitoring in the intervention group was 96.87%,higher than that in the control group(82.29%),and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.01).The incidence of nosocomial infection in the intervention group was 5.39%,which was lower than that in the control group(10.94%),the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).Conclusion Applying the goal management theory to the prevention and control of nosocomial infection of inpatients in rehabilitation institutions can effectively control the occurrence of nosocomial infection,and is worthy of clinical application.