How can patient education help attain the objectives for the nation?

The publication of Healthy People and Promoting Health/Preventing Disease represents a milestone in the development of a national health promotion policy. The growth of patient education programs, one component of clinical preventive medicine, suggests an avenue for achievement of these health promotion objectives. I report the findings of surveys of patient education activities and programs, which found that a substantial number of patient education efforts address the Objectives for the Nation. I then discuss the results of an analysis of the Objectives for the Nation that found that 15.7% of the 370 measures pertain, either implicitly or explicitly, to patient education. I conclude by making suggestions for strengthening the links between patient education and health promotion policy.