A study to introduce a nursing communication toot to make easier the continuity of nursing care of the surgical patient in the pre, per and postoperative periods. The communication tool consists in two parts: preoperative and peroperative notes form. This tool was aplied to 327 patients undergoing surgical treatment who were interned in three general surgical units and in three specialized units in a general hospital. The application of the tool was made by nursing staff of the surgical units and the operating room of the hospital. It was verified, by the analysis of results, that the frequency of the filling-in items on the preoperative form was higher than 83%, above the 70% established in this present study. The percentage of items registered on the peroperative form was above 85%, excepting pulse rate and blood pressure that showed less than 70%. The frequency of the filling-in of the items on the two forms, preoperative and peroperative, was analyzed separately for each six surgical units. The percentual variation of the filling-in was between 83 and 100% which makes possible the inference that this nursing communication tool is certainly applicable to patients undergoing general specialized surgery.