'All saints' or 'nurse as enquirer'? An irritable polemic

In this paper the first episode of a new Australian hospital 'soap' is used to illustrate that the traditional images of nurses as angels, handmaidens, sex symbols and dragons persist, despite the transfer of preregistration nursing education to the higher education sector in Australia. These images portray nurses as an oppressed group, tyrannised by 'niceness', self sacrifice and horizontal violence. An alternative image is described, that of nurse as enquirer: energetic, curious, autonomous. It is argued that the creation of this image hinges critically on the development of a nursing research culture in clinical practice, the nursing academy and the interface between the two. The benefits of nursing research are described, together with strategies to ensure their realisation. It is also suggested that nurses should cease being 'nice' and compliant with ineffective, oppressive leadership and tolerant of horizontal violence in their workplace.