Are You Going to be a Caring Nurse? In a study done by Rhodes, Morris, Lazenby (2011), over two-thirds of subjects expressed caring as an essential Nursing characteristic. Many described caring as “essential,” “the most important trait,” “central to nursing,” or “critical to the role.” A caring nurse can cause patients “not to be scared,” Others indicated that caring separated nursing from other professions and is essential for providing holistic care. Other comments included “without caring…not a nurse” and “even if no one else cares, nurses do.”