Objective To evaluate the effect of Orem intervention on the living quality and psychological state of elderly pa-tients with pulmonary tuberculosis.Methods Sixty-eight elderly patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were randomly divided into control group (n=31) and observation group (n=37).Orem intervention was applied in the observation group, while routine nurs-ing was used in the control group.The score of short-form-36 health survey (SF-36), self-rating depression scale (SDS), self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and satisfaction were compared between the two groups.Results After the intervention, the SF-36 scores of observation group were significantly increased in 8 dimensions, compared with control group , with statistically significant differences (p<0.05).Compared with the control group, the SDS and SAS scores of the observation group were significantly de-creased statistically (p<0.05).The satisfaction rates of the control group and the observation group were respectively 77.4% (24/31) and 94.6% (35/37), with statistically significant differences (p<0.05).Conclusion Orem intervention can effectively im-prove the living quality and psychological state of elderly patients with pulmonary tuberculosis , worth clinical promotion.