Polymer hydrogel has attracted considerable interest as a soft material which is finding expanding applications in pharmaceutics and various biomedical fields. In this work, modified PNVP hydrogels were synthesized by crosslinking polymerization of NVP monomer in the presence of PEG macromer with a methoxy end. The effect of the tethered PEG chain on the properties of the hydrogel was investigated in terms of its swelling capacity, compression gel strength, and the morphology of the resulting hydrogels. These PEG-modified PNVP hydrogels possessed good biocompatibility and a decreased protein (fibrinogen) adsorption, thereby indicating their potential as novel drug delivery matrices and scaffold for tissue engineering.