INTRODUCTION: Empowering education is used by nurses for patients and significant others to promote nursing care outcomes and includes biophysiological, functional, experiential, ethical, social, and financial issues. AIM: To compare the empowering knowledge that patients undergoing total arthroplasty receive with that of their significant others and the education provided by the nursing staff. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was implemented, with a convenience sample of 180 patients, 72 significant others, and 77 nursing staff members from three hospitals in Athens, Greece (2010-2011). The method of triangulation was chosen to compare data from multiple sources. The instruments for assessing empowering education were the Received Knowledge of Hospital Patient/ Significant Others Scale and the EPNURSE Questionnaire. RESULTS: There was agreement among all parties that education was not sufficient. For all dimensions, patients reported being less educated than their significant others. Nursing staff members assessed the provided education less favorably compared to both patients and significant others and seem to recognize their inadequacies. Conclusion: Nursing care practices should be redesigned to include both patients’ and significant others’ education. Educational projects for improving nursing staff’s knowledge could be useful, as well as addressing the problems of understaffing and lack of educational materials.