Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, autoimmune disorder that results in significant pain, disability and excess mortality if untreated or inadequately treated.1 As the current treatment neither prevents nor cures rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the main management aim is to reduce the impact of the disease on patients' lives by improving quality of life and reducing disability.2 Increasingly, patients are turning to internet, websites and chat rooms for advice, and some of these may be of poor quality2 . A need based patient education can help them adjust their treatment regimens and attain the self-care management skills necessary for dealing with the consequences of the disease. Methods: This descriptive study estimated the educational need on knowledge of Rheumatoid arthritis in the course of their own disease and its self-care in a view to develop a self-care module. A total of 60subjects were selected by purposive sampling technique in a selected tertiary care hospital, Bangalore. A self-prepared questionnaire was administered to estimate the educational need on knowledge of Rheumatoid arthritis in the course of their own disease and its self-care. Results: The results showed the knowledge on course of Rheumatoid arthritis, and its self-care. The mean and standard deviation of the knowledge score was 13.12 +3.728. It reflected the extreme need for information on course of disease and it’s self-care. Out of the ten demographic variables there were three variables ie educational status (0.008), income (.014) and duration of illness (.018) had significant association at < 0.05 level of significance with the knowledge. Conclusion: Receiving a health information on management of Rheumatoid arthritis is highly important in day to day management of this chronic illness.
