Historical glimpses of patient education in the United States.

Many forces within and outside patient education have influenced the development and current status of this field. This paper traces the historic growth of patient education from the Formative era through the Contemporary period. The analysis sheds light on the important issues and controversies which patient education advocates are facing during the current period of growing cost containment, privatization and conglomeration of health care, excess supply of physicians and hospital beds, and consumer activism.