This initial, descriptive study focused on the ability of registered nurses to manage their professional interactions with physicians in order to accomplish their communicative goals. Specifically it examined the associations among sex-role identities, conflict management modes, communicative goals, and the satisfaction of nurses related to the achievement of those goals when they interact professionally with physicians.

Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that was presented to registered nurses in staff positions at two urban hospitals in the Midwest. The questionnaire included two standardized instruments, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict MODE Instrument, and three instruments devised by the investigator to identify the subjects' communicative goals, their preparation for communication, and other demographic variables. The overall response was 48% of the total.

The research questions explored the relationships, if any, among the type, frequency, and satisfaction nurses report regarding their communicative goals with physicians, and their sex-role identities, the conflict management modes they use, and the clinical units on which they work.

The data from 415 usable questionnaires were examined using hierarchical log-linear modeling. Significance was set at.05. Significant relationships were found among the following variables: (a) sex-role identity, conflict management modes, and the nurses' perceived ability to communicate with physicians; (b) conflict management modes, age, education, clinical unit, and course in communication; (c) sex-role identity, conflict management modes, and goal satisfaction; (d) goal satisfaction, age, and the nurses' perceived ability to communicate with physicians. No significant relationships were established for (a) sex-role identity, education, age, and clinical unit; or (b) conflict management modes and age.

Several findings of particular interest emerged including (a) the high percentage of communicative goals the subjects report they set and accomplish; (b) the emergence of the identity-management goal as the one set and accomplished most often; (c) the high representation of subjects in the undifferentiated sex-role category; (d) the striking pattern of conflict management modes used by nurses, which included low usage of competition and collaboration and high usage of avoidance and accommodation; and (e) the significant relationships between the nurses' perceived communicative ability and the other variables of interest.