ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical effect of a multidisciplinary collaboration team combined with a palliative care model in patients with terminal cancer.MethodA total of 84 patients diagnosed with terminal cancer in our hospital were included and randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group, with 42 cases in each group. Patients in the intervention group were treated by a multidisciplinary collaborative team combined with the palliative care model, and patients in the control group were treated by routine nursing intervention. The Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) were used to evaluate negative emotions and anxiety and depression of patients before and after intervention. The Quality of Life Scale (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] QLQ-C30) and Social Support Scale (SSRS) were used to evaluate the quality of life and social support of patients. This study has been registered in 13/01/2023 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05683236).ResultThe general data of the two groups were comparable. After intervention, the SAS (43.7 ± 7.4 vs. 54.2 ± 9.3) and SDS scores (38.4 ± 6.5 vs. 53.1 ± 8.4) of the intervention group were significantly lower than those of the control group. The total SSRS score, subjective support score, objective support score and utilisation of support of the intervention group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P< 0.05). The overall quality of life score of the intervention group was higher than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (79.5 ± 4.5 vs. 73.2 ± 3.6,P< 0.05). The scores of each functional scale were significantly higher than those of the control group (P< 0.05).ConclusionCompared with conventional nursing, the application of the multidisciplinary collaborative team combined with tranquilisation therapy in patients with terminal cancer can significantly reduce the anxiety and depression of patients, enable patients to obtain comprehensive social support, and effectively improve the quality of life of patients.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT05683236, 13/01/2023, Retrospectively registered.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12904-023-01192-7.