Tehran University of Medical Sciences Acta Medica Iranica 0044-6025 58 3 2020 07 19 96 102 Bahareh Abavi-Torghabeh School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Mehrsadat Mahdizadeh Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. AND Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Seyed-Mousa Mahdizadeh Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. AND Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Seyed-Reza Mazloom Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. AND Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. 2019 09 18 2020 05 07 Colorectal cancer and its treatment have short-term and long-term side effects for patients. One of the factors affecting these side effects is the nursing care method. This study was conducted to determine the effect of care based on the critical pathway on the duration of hospitalization, complications of the disease, and satisfaction with nursing care in patients with colorectal cancer. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial study, 70 patients with colorectal cancer were randomly selected from two hospitals of OMID (N=35) and GHAEM (N=35) in Mashhad, Iran. They were assigned to intervention and control groups. The data were collected using a characteristic of patients, and satisfaction questioner, a checklist of patient status and nursing performance, and analyzed by SPSS software version 18. There was a significant difference in the mean of satisfaction of patients from nursing care and length of hospital stay between pathway and routine care group (P<0.001). There were no significant differences between pathway and routine for the postoperative complications after 12 weeks of follow-up. Our study indicates that critical pathway care can increase the satisfaction of patients and decrease the duration of hospitalization. Future studies should investigate how to increase other clinical outcomes in the oncology wards. https://acta.tums.ac.ir/index.php/acta/article/view/8086 https://acta.tums.ac.ir/index.php/acta/article/download/8086/5378