Postoperative coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients seek educational resources around discharge. There is limited research on the type and perceived effectiveness of self-sought educational resources. The purpose of this study was to describe the use of self-sought educational resources by patients around time of discharge and to explore relationships between use of self-sought educational resources and self-care knowledge, performance of self-care behavior, and symptom frequency. This study is a substudy of a randomized clinical trial that included a convenience sample of first-time CABG patients. Significant correlations were found between use of self-sought educational resources and greater frequency of patient's behavior (P <or= .05), and a decrease in symptom frequency (P <or= .05). This study represents a first step toward identifying the association between the use of self-sought educational resources after CABG and outcomes expected of education.