The modern nurse is viewed by the public as a skilled and independent professional - not the inane sex object or fire breathing matron portrayed in Carry On films.

A Mori poll found that today's nurses are viewed as hard-working, talented and good at their job.

Most of those surveyed rejected the idea that nursing was a profession in which it was better to be a woman.

Fifteen years ago a similar survey showed that many people still clung to the "Carry on Nurse" images portrayed by actresses Barbara Windsor and Hattie Jacques.

In the new poll, carried out for the Royal College of Nursing and Nursing Times magazine, only six per cent of people questioned viewed nurses as "having sex appeal".

Just eight per cent thought they were "very authoritarian".

One in 10 people now believed nurses were naturally better at their jobs if they were female, compared with almost one in three in 1984.

Fewer people today expected nurses to obey doctors' orders without question.

In 1984, 42% of people thought this was the case, but now the figure is only 27%.

Caring and understanding

Eight out of 10 people today described nurses as "extremely hardworking" and "caring and understanding", and six in 10 thought they were "equally concerned with patients' physical and emotional needs".

RCN general secretary Christine Hancock said: "Quite rightly, the public still places the highest value on the essentials of nursing - caring for the all-round needs of patients.

"But they also clearly value the new roles nurses are undertaking and support our fight for better pay, working conditions and education."

Mori surveyed a representative sample of 2,003 adults throughout Great Britain.

The results will be published in the Nursing Times on Thursday