ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book shows that professional traditions and professional goodwill are not enough to ensure that patient education offered by professionals will meet patients' needs. The mismatch between intentions and practice requires explanation. The book is concerned itself with parent education in health service settings; with parents as patients. Lessons from studies of parent education may also be relevant to educational work with patients who are not in contact with the health service in the capacity of parents or prospective parents. The effects of social and professional change do not only mean that professional traditions should no longer govern content in parent education. They also call into question the institutional arrangements which the health service has made to try to meet patients' needs.
