The incidence of perioperative risks and mortality related to anesthesia increased and involved multiple factors. Early identification and effective management in the initial stages increase rate of survival among these patients, so nurses' play a core role in perioperative care through closely monitoring of patients and providing quality nursing care. The study was aimed to assess risks of general anesthesia, nursing care and postoperative outcome among patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. Setting: The present study was conducted in gastrointestinal surgical unit, surgical operation and post anesthestic care units at Zagazig university hospitals, Egypt. Study subjects: A convenience sample of all available nurses (30) working in the mentioned setting and a purposive sample of (70) patients who fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Tool of data collection: Three tools were used for collecting data. Tool I: A self-administrated questionnaire about studied nurses. Tool II: An observational questionnaire for perioperative nursing care. Tool III: Interview assessment questionnaire for patients Results: Majority of studied nurses (80%) had unsatisfactory total knowledge , nearly three quarter (73.3%) had unsatisfactory total practice regarding care of patient undergoing general anesthesia, nearly two third of patients transfer from critical phase to continued recovery after anesthesia and more than half had moderate postoperative surgical outcome. Conclusion: Majority of studied nurses had unsatisfactory knowledge and practice regarding care of patients undergoing general anesthesia, there were statistical significant positive correlation between patients' recovery from anesthesia and their postoperative outcome, there were statistical significant positive correlation between patients' recovery from anesthesia and total nurses' practice and there were negative statistical significance correlation between nurses' total knowledge and total practice and intra-postoperative risks of general anesthesia as respiratory, cardiovascular, general and gastrointestinal risks. Recommendation: training program are highly recommended to improve nurses' performance, immediately postoperative care must be given by training and professional nurses, establishing a data base for those patients who experienced adverse effect from general anesthesia is necessary