PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to describe role conflict and job satisfaction of Neurosurgery Clinical Nurse Specialist(NCNS) and to identify associated factors.
METHOD
The target populations was 77 NCNSs from 30 general hospitals. Data were collected with self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using t-test and ANOVA.
RESULTS
The overall mean scores of role conflict and job satisfaction were 3.60(+/-0.54) and 3.04(+/-0.46) respectively. Significant variables affecting role conflict were the working period as NCNS, the number of colleague NCNSs in working hospital, and assignment of prescription rights. The significant variable affecting job satisfaction was assignment of prescription rights. There was no statistically significant correlation between job and role conflict.
CONCLUSION
The variable effecting both role conflict and job satisfaction was the extent of prescription rights. In order to improve the quality of patient care and to protect Neurosurgery Nurse Clinical Specialist, the enactment of law on prescription practice is needed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of assertiveness training and values clarification training on nurse's role conflict. Fifty-seven registered nurses participated to in the study : they were employed at to three general hospitals, all of which were located in the city of Daegu, Korea. The study employs two treatment groups. The assertiveness training group consisted of nursing subjects who participated in nine, 90-120 minute sessions of assertiveness training over five weeks. The other treatment group received nine, 90-120 minute group sessions of values clarification at the same time. For the control group, nursing subjects did not participated in any training. For pre-test evaluation, Role Conflict Inventory-General tests (RCI-G), were administered to al subjects in al three groups one week prior to the beginning of the treatment and for post-test evaluation, Communication Conflict Inventory-Specific tests (RCI-S), were administered two weeks after the last session. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) on RCI-S scores were run using the SPSS program. In order to test statistical difference among mean scores of the subscales obtained after treatment, multiple comparisons were carried out using the Turkey method. The subscale scores of nurse's role conflict of the groups who experienced the assertiveness training and the values clarification, were significantly lower than the control group in role ambiguity, environmental barriers, and competency deficit, but there was no difference in collaboration deficit. The value clarification training was more effective than was th assertiveness training in decreasing the subscale scores in role ambiguity. There were, however, no differences in environmental barriers, competency deficit or collaboration deficit between two experimental groups.