title: University challenge.
abstract: The notion that it is impossible to be academically bright while retaining the ability to show care and compassion was presented in some quarters as an undeniable truth. In an outspoken attack on all nurses trained since 1990, the Patients Association put it like this: 'The academic must be secondary to the practical. Only then will patients get the nurses they want and trust - the right ones with the right attitude.' Nurses and patients of all generations know this is nonsense.