Objective To explore the effects of behavioral ecology model in healthcare-associated infection management. Methods By random sampling, we selected 800 medical records at Nanyang City Center Hospital of He'nan Province from June 2015 to May 2016 in control group, and 800 medical records from June 2016 to May 2017 in observation group. Control group adopted routine healthcare-associated infection management. On the basis of that in control group, observation group carried out the management with the behavioral ecology model. We compared the nosocomial infection rate, bacterial distribution, knowledge of healthcare-associated infection as well as the qualified rate of hand hygiene between two groups. Results There were 14 cases (1.75%) with healthcare-associated infection in observation group less than that in control group with a statistical difference (χ2=7.913, P=0.006) . Observation group distributed 395 nosocomial infection related pathogens, while control group distributed 475 of that. The scores of knowledge of healthcare-associated infection and hand hygiene in observation group were (96±15) and (98±12) respectively higher than those in control group with statistical differences (P<0.05) . Conclusions The application of behavioral ecology model in strengthening the interaction among consciousness, environment and behavior can improve the cognition on healthcare-associated infection, knowledge and rate of hand hygiene of nurses, reduce the rate of hand hygiene which had positive effects on healthcare-associated infection control. Key words: Nursing staff; Cross infection; Management; Behavioral ecology