PURPOSE: The purpose of our study was to examine the effectiveness of general health-promotion teaching for patients in the waiting room of a clinic, using focused videotape instruction. DESIGN: An experimental design was used. SAMPLE: Subjects were patients (N = 215) in the waiting rooms of clinics in a university medical center in the Midwest. METHOD: Patients were randomly assigned to two groups: focused videotape instruction in the clinic (n = 106) and control (no instruction in the clinic waiting area) (n = 109). The outcome measures included patient learning about a health education topic and patient satisfaction with overall care, explanations by the provider, and education received during the clinic visit. FINDINGS: There was a significant gain in knowledge for patients who viewed the videotape in the waiting room (t = 5.43, df = 213, p < .0001), and they were more satisfied with their education compared with the control group (t = 4.73, df = 213, p < .0001). IMPLICATIONS: This study supports focused video instruction as an effective and efficient teaching intervention for disseminating health information in the waiting area.