Patient education: a mandate for health care in the 21st century.

OBJECTIVE This first article, of a two-part series, presents the foundation for patient education in the nuclear medicine department. The need for patient education through mandates, such as the JCAHO, is discussed and the relevant literature surrounding the delivery of patient education is reviewed. The emphasis is on proper learning by patients, including the means of maximizing the facilitators to learning and minimizing barriers that limit patient learning in the clinical setting. After completing the article, the reader should be able to: (a) describe the mandates for patient education; (b) discuss the current practice of patient education in health care; (c) describe the effective implementation of learning; (d) list barriers and facilitators to patient learning; and (e) give examples of how barriers to learning can be minimized and facilitators can be maximized. Practical applications will be discussed in the second article.