"Not all nurses where popular girls in high school, but all popular girls become nurses". This has rung true in my person experiences with both nurses and popular girls I went to school with.

In my mind it explains the mentality of the average nurse: be seen as ever so wonderful, have and abuse a level of power over those "below" you, half ass everything and leave it to the good girl in the group who actually wants to get things done and follow any trend religiously without ever thinking about the consequences.

They also fight like hell amongst themselves but close ranks as soon as one of them is criticised. Even my Mil who was a nurse for 40 years won't hear a word against any nurse ever and sees them as a monolith of virtue.... despite being one of the few "not popular" girls on the wards and telling me she'd never let her son marry a nurse.