Aims and objectives The purpose of this article was to compare surgical oncology nurses caring behaviours to perceptions of their surgical oncology inpatients and determine internal consistency of the CAT‐Nurse. Background Nursing practice at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, FL is guided by Duffy's Quality‐Caring Model©. No study using Duffy's model for both oncology nurses and patients has been found. Design A descriptive correlation design was used adhering to the STROBE guidelines. Data were collected using CAT‐Nurse and compared to data from a previous study using CAT (version V). Methods Item responses were compared between nurses and patients using t tests. Results Patients scored higher on perceptions of caring behaviours. Mutual problem solving was an area for improvement. The CAT‐Nurse demonstrated internal consistency reliability. Conclusion Results from this study can make nurses more aware of the caring perceptions that are not as strong as others, and therefore may have the ability to promote transformation. Relevance to clinical practice The results can serve as foundational knowledge for action plans aimed at increasing nurse comfort addressing lower scoring caring behaviours that would then result in improving patient perceptions which could be linked to patient satisfaction and reimbursement.

Spearman's correlation coefficients between the scores and age, length of stay, and number of nurses caring for the patients were not significant. No significant association was found between surgical site and CAT scores, nor between gender, race, and disposition posthospitalization. Appreciation of unique meanings and mutual problem solving showed need for improvement.

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