In their definition of modern nursing, the Royal College of Nursing emphasizes 
the importance of caring. However, there is little other than anecdotal evidence 
that female qualified staff nurses are more caring and compassionate than 
average individuals. A study was carried out to test, under scientific 
conditions with a case control study, the hypothesis that staff nurses are no 
more caring than average female individuals. Using the ten-item personality 
inventory (TIPI) questionnaire, a statistical comparison was made between 174 
volunteer female staff nurses and data for 760 adult female controls extracted 
from the TIPI instrument's original validation study. The questionnaire measures 
each of the five major facets of personality: openness, extroversion, 
conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism. Agreeableness, which is a 
tendency to be compassionate, considerate and cooperative, was used as a proxy 
measure for 'caring'. Data were analysed using unpaired Student's t-tests. 
Female staff nurses recorded significantly higher scores than female controls 
concerning the personality traits extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness 
and emotional stability (P<0.05). The analysis demonstrates that in direct 
comparison to normal adult females, staff nurses are significantly more caring, 
conscientious and resilient individuals. The personality traits found in female 
staff nurses complement their profession and to some extent justify the caring, 
compassionate nurse stereotype. Whether career nursing self-selects these 
qualities or to what extent nursing staff develop aspects of their personality 
as a product of experience is a subject for debate.