Abstract: Objective To examine the need of health education among inpatients in third-level hospitals in Gansu province for exploring long-term strategy of health education in hospitalized patients.Methods A total of 2000 inpatients were selected with randomized stratified sampling from 20 third-level hospitals in Gansu province and surveyed with a self-designed questionnaire about the need for health education.Results Of the 1901 inpatients with eligible response,81.19% reported the requirement for knowledge about prevention of common diseases and 77.75% for the knowledge on rational drug use.Significant differences in health knowledge requirement were observed among the inpatients of different gender,various age,education level,and occupation(all P<0.05).Conclusion Both population and individual health education should be promoted in hospitals in Gansu province to satisfy the need of the inpatients.