It has been generally acknowledged that the concept of caring is central to the practice of nursing. There has been a trend in recent years for health care facilities to promote their institution as the best place to come for care.  There is, however, no single definition of what it means to care.  Research has revealed differing perceptions of what nurses and what patients consider to be caring behaviors. At present, the only sources of information regarding patients’ perceptions of care are hospital patient satisfaction surveys. However, although there may be some relationship between patient satisfaction and a patient’s perception of “very good care,” they do not necessarily mean the same thing. Employee satisfaction surveys do not address nurses’ perceptions of caring. Further comparisons of what constitutes caring from both the patient and the nurse perspectives will help organizations as they continue to seek to improve patient care. A comparative descriptive study will be undertaken to determine if there are differences in patients’ and nurses’ perceptions of caring. Watson’s Transpersonal Caring Theory provides the theoretical basis for this investigation. The Caring Behaviors Inventory (CBI) will be administered both to a sample of adult patients admitted to inpatient medical and surgical nursing units excluding intensive care units and to a sample of nurses working on those same units.  Descriptive statistics and T-tests will be utilized to determine if there are differences in the patients’ and nurses’ total scores and subscales scores on the CBI. Individual items which show significant differences between nurse and patient perceptions of caring will be further investigated. The information will be shared with staff nurses, educators, nurse managers, and hospital administrators in order to assist them in developing evidence-based programs to better meet the healthcare needs of patients and the educational needs of nurses.