Background <p>Magnetic resonance imaging is essential to accurately check patients’ health status and apply optimal nursing care and treatment. Understanding patients’ experiences and caring needs is crucial for completing the examination safely and improving the quality of the images that aid decision-making regarding treatment. This study explored patients’ caring needs for patient-friendly magnetic resonance imaging.</p> Methods <p>A descriptive qualitative study design was used. Participants were 20 patients (12 men and eight women) aged 19–80 years who received magnetic resonance imaging at a tertiary hospital. Participants were recruited using a combination of flyer-based recruitment in the magnetic resonance imaging units and snowball sampling. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews from May to June 2024 and analyzed using conventional content analysis. The COREQ guidelines were used to check the rigor of the study.</p> Results <p>Three themes were derived: (1) information support and effective communication; (2) attentive care that minimizes physical limitations; and (3) emotional consideration to relieve lingering negative memories of being overwhelmed by machines.</p> Conclusion <p>During disease identification and treatment, patients’ perspectives should be fully considered to ensure high-quality examination experiences. To perform a patient-friendly magnetic resonance imaging procedure, healthcare providers should actively participate and work together to create an examination environment that improves patients’ physical and mental well-being.</p> Clinical trial number <p>Not applicable.</p>