patient education process in teaching hospitals of tehran university of medical sciences

background: patient education is widely recognized as a core component of nursing. patient education can lead to quality outcomes including adherence, quality of life, patients' knowledge of their illness and self-management. this study aimed to clarify patient education process in teaching hospitals affiliated to tehran university of medical sciences (tums) in iran.   methods : this cross-sectional study was conducted in 2013. in this descriptive quantitative study, the sample covered 187 head nurses selected from ten teaching hospitals through convenience sampling. data were collected with a questionnaire developed specifically for this study. the questionnaire measured patient education process in four dimensions: need assessment, planning, implementing and evaluating.   results : the overall mean score of patient education was 3.326±0.0524. among the four dimensions of the patient education process, planning was in the highest level (3.570±0.0591) and the lowest score belonged to the evaluation of patient education (2.840 ±0.0628).   conclusion : clarifying patient education steps, developing standardized framework and providing easily understandable tool-kit of the patient education program will improve the ability of nurses in delivering effective patient education in general and specialized hospitals.