Objective:To investigate the current situation of psychological distress in patients after pulmonary nodule surgery and to explore the effect path of perceived stress and nurses' caring ability on psychological distress.Method:From October 2019 to May 2021, a total of 415 patients with pulmonary nodules after surgery in the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital were selected as the investigation objects by the convenient sampling method. The Psychological Distress Thermometer, Caring Ability Scale, Perceived Stress Scale and General Information Questionnaire were used for investigation and analysis. Structural equation model was used to analyze the effect of perceived stress on psychological distress. A total of 415 paper questionnaires were distributed and 411 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective recovery rate of 99.04%.Results:The psychological distress score of 411 patients with pulmonary nodules after operation was (4.82±1.42) , and 179 patients (43.55%) had a score greater than or equal to 4. There were statistically significant differences in the psychological distress scores of inpatients with different marriage, pulmonary nodule types, fear of cancer, emotional self-regulation ability, e-health literacy and disease awareness after pulmonary nodule surgery ( P<0.01) . Psychological distress was negatively correlated with nurses' caring ability ( r=-0.626, P<0.01) , and positively correlated with perceived stress ( r=0.596, P<0.01) . The mediating effect value of nurse' caring ability between sense of loss of control and psychological pain was 0.132, accounting for 32.84% (0.132/0.402) of the total effect. Conclusions:The psychological pain of patients after pulmonary nodule surgery is closely related to perceived pressure and nurses' caring ability. The nurses' caring ability has a partial mediating effect between the sense of loss of control and psychological pain. Improving nurses' caring ability can reduce the psychological distress of patients after pulmonary nodule surgery.