I think there a level of subtext going on somewhere in this thread, that if Nurses are expected to be a little more 'academic' then they will somehow automatically 'lose touch' with not only the practical 'hands-on' side of the job, but also the human aspect of their role in patient care - and thus turn into icy robotic creatures with needles, like something out of Dr. Who.

There also seems to be some illusion that in 'the good old days' when Hattie Jacques was Matron, Nurses just hit the wards and 'knew' by some god-given maternal instinct their patients precise needs (a kinda homely cosy common-sense healing wisdom of 'You just have a nice cuppa tea, love and it'll be alright in the morning'.) That is dreadfully patronising and demeaning to the professionalism of Nurses for one thing, and also of course bollox for another.

I still have the dog-eared old tomes filled with indecipherable (to me) pharmacological Latinese, that my *Grandmother* (who was a senior psychiatric Nurse many decades ago), had to wade through in order to gain her Nursing qualifications back 'in the good old days' when she first began her Nursing career. It wasn't just a generic Mumsy figure with a nice cuppa tea, who emptied Grannies bed pan and made you feel 'secure' with military-precision bedsheets, even back then!