The perioperative nursing role has evolved from that of task-oriented specialists to patient-centered professionals. The concept of caring is significant to perioperative nurses and is manifested by the many caring behaviors perioperative nurses demonstrate toward surgical patients. This article describes how the element of caring is an essential function of perioperative nursing and relates the perioperative nursing role to the work of three nursing theorists (le, Florence Nightingale; Virginia Henderson, RN, AM; Carol L. Montgomery, RN, PhD).