Objective To evaluate the application of multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) model in nursing of elderly patients with diabetes.Methods A total of 166 elderly diabetic patients were retrospectively selected. They were randomly and equally divided into the MDT group and the control group. The patients in the control group were treated with the traditional nursing method. And the patients in the MDT group were treated with a multidisciplinary team. The hospitalization time, hospital costs, incidence of diabetes-related complications, and nursing satisfaction were analyzed and compared.Results The hospitalization time and hospitalization costs were significantly lower in the MDT group than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The satisfaction rate of MDT group (98.3%) was significantly higher compared with the control group (86.6%; P < 0.05). Besides, the incidence of complications was significantly lower in the MDT group (10.8%) when comparing to the control group (40.1%; P < 0.05).Conclusion The application of MDT model in elderly diabetic care was superior to traditional routine nursing model, shortening the hospital stay and hospitalization costs, decreasing the incidence of complications and improving the nursing satisfaction of patients and their families, thereby improving the long-term prognosis and life quality of elderly diabetic patients.