The first section is a systematised review exploring the concept of graduateness in United Kingdom (UK) nursing. This contains an additional tier of the method, a concept analysis of graduateness, using a modified version of Walker and Avant’s concept analysis model (1995) and from this, a model of graduateness in UK nursing is constructed. The empirical phase articulates with the first using compassion, selected from the graduateness model. Critical discourse analysis is used to examine compassion and the nature of associated learning via literary and focus group analyses in nursing and social work to provide novel insights into the relationships and influence of compassion in the two fields.