Perioperative nurses' perceptions of caring practices.

This study was designed to determine how caring is practiced in perioperative nursing. The theory of nursing by M. Jean Watson, RN, PhD, FAAN, provided the conceptual framework for the study. The researcher used a qualitative, descriptive methodology to analyze data collected in audiotaped interviews with five perioperative nurses and used standard qualitative research procedures for transcribing and analyzing the interview data. The five study participants identified their perceptions of caring behaviors with conscious and unconscious patients in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods. They described the essential structure of caring as the establishment of a human care relationship and provision of a supportive, protective, and/or corrective psychological, physical, and spiritual environment.