Objective It is necessary for nursing staff members to assign priorities in health education to hospitalized patients to ensure curative effect .The purose of the study was to explore the effect of process management application in health education path -way to patients with rheumatoid arthritis ( RA) . Methods A total of 70 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were randomly divided into observation group and control group , 35 patients in each group .Traditional health education was done in control group , while health education pathway was performed in observation in observation group according to process management .A study of patients′satisfaction with hospitalization , compliance of medication and knowledge of health education was undertaken . Results Observation group had priority to control group in satisfaction with hospitalization and medication compliance (77.1% vs 42.9%,P <0.05; 80.0% vs 57.1%,P<0.05).As to knowledge of health education , observation group was prior to control group in dietary restrictions , functional training methods and return visit conditions (71.4% vs 40.0%;37.1% vs 14.3%;45.7% vs 17.1%).Howerver, no significant difference was found in congintion of drugs among the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Compared with traditional health educa-tion, the process management application of RA health education pathway helps to improve patients ′health konwledge and medical compliance , which is an effective adjuvant treatment .