The study aimed to explore the impact of refined nursing management in the operating room on surgical efficiency, postoperative recovery, and stress responses in patients undergoing laparoscopic general surgery. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 100 patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University between March 2023 and March 2024. The control group comprised 48 cases receiving conventional operating room nursing, while the observation group comprised 52 cases receiving refined nursing management in the operating room in addition to the conventional care. Comparisons were conducted between the two groups regarding surgical efficiency, postoperative recovery, postoperative stress indicators, psychological status before and after nursing, overall treatment comfort, perioperative complications, and nursing satisfaction. The observation group showed statistically significant improvements in surgical efficiency, postoperative recovery, and stress indicators compared to the control group. After the intervention, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) scores of both groups significantly decreased compared to pre-nursing levels (p < 0.05), while such decrease was notably higher in the observation group (p < 0.05). Patients in the observation group reported significantly higher post-nursing comfort levels (p < 0.05) and exhibited significantly fewer perioperative complications (p < 0.05) compared to the control group. Furthermore, the nurses indicated significantly higher satisfaction with patient care in the observation group (p < 0.05). Implementing refined nursing in the operating room for laparoscopic general surgery can facilitate the recovery of gastrointestinal function, reduce postoperative recovery time, prevent complications, improve patients' psychological state, and enhance their quality of life.