The study uncovers common themes and continuities embedded in discourses concerning the role of the nurse
and nurses’ professional training. Through professional and popular debate, a particular and enduring set of images of
the nurse was constructed, which was antithetical to the idea of a nurse receiving professional training in the academy.
The debate was conducted by doctors, journalists, public officials, and by nurses, some of whom were ambivalent or
even hostile to the notion of the educated nurse. Much of the debate concerned the role of the nurse and the relationship
between knowledge/intelligence and practice/caring.