Objective To design a teaching reform program for the Surgical Nursing course in the associate-to-bachelor upgrading program for nursing majors，and to evaluate its implementation effects. Methods On the basis of student situation analysis，a teaching reform program was designed in combination with the characteristics and learning preferences of nursing students in the associate-to-bachelor upgrading program. The main steps included resetting teaching objectives，reconstructing teaching content，optimizing teaching design，adjusting class hour allocation，and improving teaching resources. Nursing students of the 2023 cohort in the associate-to-bachelor upgrading program were selected as the control group and received traditional teaching；while students of the 2024 cohort were selected as the experimental group and received a progressive teaching model characterized by “Learning-Practice-Consolidation-Repractice”. The course scores，self-directed learning ability and critical thinking ability were compared between the two groups. Results The experimental group demonstrated significantly higher scores in course performance，self-directed learning ability，and critical thinking ability compared to the control group（P<0.05）. Conclusion The teaching reform of the Surgical Nursing course in the associate-to-bachelor upgrading program has achieved good results，which can effectively address the issues of students having a superficial understanding of knowledge and weak abilities in independent learning and critical thinking.