Objective The aim of the study is to investigate the ability of caring status and influence factors for ICU nurses and to provide humane care strategy to nursing managers .Methods Totals of 99 nurses met the inclusion criteria in ICU of four hospitals in Jilin , were surveyed with the Chinese Version Caring Ability Inventory scale questionnaire .Results The overall caring capacity of ICU nurses was low , with a total score of (181.83 ±21.48), within which the dimensions of cognitive , courage, patience were (70.38 ±10.17), (55.71 ±10.50) and (56.05 ±7.74), respectively.For different working years of ICU nurses , the difference was not statistically significant (t=1.591, P>0.05); For different form of employment and whether the ICU nurses was single-child, the differences were statistically significant ( t =2.512,2.475, respectively; P <0.05);For different educational degree of ICU nurses , the difference was statistically significant ( F=8.289, P<0.01);For different titles of ICU nurses , the difference was not statistically significant ( F=1.323, P>0.05).Conclusions ICU nurses’ caring capacity is low in general , and caring for patients is insufficient .We recommend the interdisciplinary humanities knowledge training , especially for the lower educated nurses . Nursing administrators can provide more education and promotion opportunities , increase the proportion of permanent staff , and optimize scheduling model to enhance the caring capacity .