Objective To explore the application effect of quaternary linkage nursing mode based on big data in patients with burn and plastic surgery. Methods A total of 100 burn patients admitted to our hospital from January 2022 to December 2023 were selected as the research objects. They were divided into control group and observation group by random number table method, with 50 patients in each group. The control group was treated with routine nursing intervention, and the observation group was treated with four-element linkage nursing mode based on big data. The negative emotion, self-management level, social ability, quality of life and nursing satisfaction were compared between the two groups. Results After intervention, the scores of HAMA and HAMD in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P <0.05). After intervention, the scores of each dimension of ESCA in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P <0.05). After intervention, the SDSS score of the observation group was lower than that of the control group, and the IRI and SSRS scores were higher than those of the control group (P <0.05). After intervention, the scores of all dimensions of quality of life in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P <0.05). The nursing satisfaction of the observation group was 92.00%, which was higher than 76.00% of the control group (P <0.05). Conclusion The four-element linkage nursing model based on big data has a good application effect in patients with burn and plastic surgery, which can improve the negative emotions and quality of life of patients, help to improve their self-care ability and social ability, and patients have higher satisfaction with nursing services.