The observation of the researcher as a nurse in a hospital in South-East, Nigeria is that intra-professional conflict is rife among nurses. Strikingly, the incidence of intra-professional conflict among nurses could be a function of many factors among which are age and academic qualifications. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate Effects of age and academic qualification on intra-professional conflict among nurses in selected hospitals in South-East, Nigeria. The research design employed in the study was a cross sectional survey, sample size of 997 nurses who were randomly selected participated in the study. The data were obtained using a 19-item questionnaire titled: Sources of Intra-Professional Conflicts among Nurses Questionnaire (SIPCNQ). SIPCNQ was validated by two other experts from departments of nursing and health management. Reliability of SIPCNQ which was tested with Cronbach alpha test to determine its internal consistency obtained an alpha coefficient reliability of 0.68-0.86 and was considered reliable for the study. Mean, Standard Deviation with Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) were used for data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that intra-professional conflict negatively affected nurses of 21-30yrs the most, followed by nurses of 31-40yrs while nurses of 51-60 years are least affected by intra-professional conflict. Furthermore, the findings of the study revealed that intra-professional conflict negatively affected nurses with Diploma/other certificates the most, followed by nurses with BScN/BNSc degree while nurses with PhD/other higher degrees are least affected by intra-professional conflict. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that Ministry of health and employers of nurses should endeavor to organize conferences and workshops for younger nurses on the professional ways of managing and resolving intra-professional conflicts.
