Objective To observe the effect of refined nursing mode on psychological status, insulin treatment compliance and quality of life in elderly patients with type-2 diabetes. Methods 50 cases of diabetic patients were randomly divided into control group (25 cases) and observation group (25 cases) by envelope method. Both groups were given routine nursing, besides, the observation group was given additional refined nursing. The scores of self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale (SDS) and life quality, and levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), postprandial 2H blood glucose (PBG) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured before and after intervention, and the insulin treatment compliance in the two groups was compared. Results After intervention, the scores of SAS and SDS in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05), the complete compliance rate of insulin treatment in the observation group was 88.00% which was significantly higher than that in the control group 52.00% (P<0.05), the improvement of life quality score in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), and the levels of FBG, PBG and HbA1c in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Refined nursing model can improve not only psychological status, but also insulin treatment compliance, clinical symptoms and life quality of patients with type-2 diabetes.