The purpose of this study was to describe interactional styles used by nurse practitioners and physicians in their attempts to influence patients' decision making. The ethical concepts of paternalism, maternalism, and shared decision making (operationalized as command, consequence, and concordance, respectively) formed the conceptual framework for the analysis of the interactions. Videotaped interactions of 85 physicians and 42 nurse practitioners in either joint or solo practice were analyzed. Tests of a priori hypotheses using hierarchical log-linear modeling yielded the following significant results: Males and physicians in solo practice used more command statements and fewer consequence statements than females and nurse practitioners in solo practice, who used fewer command statements and more consequence statements. All groups used more command/consequence statements than concordance statements.