To explore the effect of doctor-patient relationship perception on work performance among medical staff in public hospitals and its mechanism. The convenient sampling method was used to select 380 medical staff working in four public tertiary hospitals in Sichuan Province, Zhejiang Province, and Fujian Province from August 2022 to October 2022 as the research objects, and the General Information Questionnaire, Doctor-Patient Relationship Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Perceived Organizational Support Scale, Work Performance Questionnaire were used. This paper showed that the doctor-patient relationship perception of medical staff was negatively correlated with self-efficacy (r=-0.392, P<0.01) and work performance (r=-0.286, P<0.01), self-efficacy was positively correlated with perceived organizational support (r=0.538, P<0.01) and work performance (r=0.507, P<0.01), perceived organizational support was positively correlated with work performance (r=0.510, P<0.01). Self-efficacy played a partial mediating role between doctor-patient relationship perception and work performance, and its effect value was -0.241, accounting for 64.78% of the total effect. Perceived organizational support weakened the negative predictive effect of doctor-patient relationship perception on self-efficacy, which moderates the first half path of the mediating model that doctor-patient relationship perception affects work performance through self-efficacy. It indicated that the doctor-patient relationship perceived by medical staff in public hospitals is poor. Measures should be taken from the aspects of policy support, hospital and society levels to alleviate the doctor-patient relationship, play the mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderating role of organizational support, minimize the negative impact of doctor-patient relationship on the work performance among medical staff, and improve the work performance of medical staff, so as to improve the overall quality of medical services.