He had beads of sweat on his forehead and looked a little panicked out of his eyes. There seemed to be no end to his work.

'You have quite a bit to do,' I said. He nodded affirmatively. 'I see you're working hard, but it's not progressing. Chopping trees with a blunt axe isn't easy either, of course. It takes a lot of time, gives a poor result and sooner or later is going to lead to frustration.'

Unsolicited advice is always dangerous, but I ventured, "If I were you, I would sharpen your axe. It chops nicer and goes faster. Good tools are half the battle.'

The gnome looked at me disapprovingly and he muttered, "I have absolutely no time for that! I'm busy and have lots of trees to cut down! And besides, I've been doing it that way for years.' Stubbornly he continued with his blunt axe and the endless row of trees in front of him.

The gnome and his blunt axe......

The way we in healthcare inform patients sometimes seems a bit like chopping with a blunt axe. Informing patients properly is a difficult and time-consuming activity. Moreover, we often do not use proper "tools" for it, resulting in mediocre results. Literature on the subject proves this and anyone who has experience as a patient will recognize this from practice. Only a small part of all the information we discuss with patients sticks. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers are still informing - often by necessity - without good tools.

Time to take a break from our daily process. Invest in good tools and experience that the work becomes more fun, smoother and the outcome for both patient and caregiver will be better!

Written from my experiences as a pulmonologist and initiator of Indiveo: understandable patient information in image and sound.