You recognize the pattern. First there's one who needs a «break». Then another. Before you know it, you're covering shifts yourself while filling out absence forms - another administrative layer on top of everything else.

Absenteeism in the healthcare sector is high, and the reasons are complex. But as a department manager, you see something the numbers don't capture: it's rarely just patient work that breaks people. It's the sum of everything else - the reporting, the registrations, the systems that don't talk to each other, the meetings about meetings.

This guide is about what you, as a manager, can do to reduce the administrative burden - and thus protect your team from the pressure that leads to absence.

What research says about documentation burden and burnout

The link between administrative pressure and burnout among healthcare professionals isn't just something you notice in the hallways - it's well documented in peer-reviewed research.

A cross-sectional study published in Applied Clinical Informatics investigated the relationship between documentation burden and burnout among nurses in direct patient care. The researchers found a clear correlation: higher documentation burden correlated with increased symptoms of burnout. Poor usability of the electronic medical record systems further amplified the effect (Gesner et al, Appl Clin Inform, 2022).

A comprehensive scoping review in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association mapped how documentation burden is measured among doctors and nurses. The researchers identified seven different burden dimensions related to electronic medical record systems - including working after hours, administrative tasks that have been shifted to clinicians, and workflow fragmentation (Moy et al, J Am Med Inform Assoc, 2021).

A review article in Journal of Primary Care & Community Health points out that documentation requirements have escalated significantly with the transition to electronic systems. Many tasks previously handled by office staff have become the responsibility of clinicians. As a result, patient interactions and work-life balance are compromised (Budd, J Prim Care Community Health, 2023).

A recent prospective study from Stanford investigated the impact of speech-to-text-based documentation technology among 48 physicians over three months. The results showed statistically significant reductions in both perceived workload and burnout, as well as improved usability compared to traditional manual record keeping (Shah et al, J Am Med Inform Assoc, 2025).

Note: The studies above are international. The Norwegian healthcare system has its own framework conditions, but the challenges related to documentation burden and system load are recognizable across national borders.

The documentation obligation is not the problem - the systems are

Healthcare professionals have a documentation obligation under Health Personnel Act § 40. This is not negotiable, nor should it be. Record-keeping is a prerequisite for proper health care.

But as the research shows, the problem is rarely the duty itself. The problem is that employees spend a disproportionate amount of time navigating cumbersome systems, double-entering information, and handling administrative tasks not directly related to patient care. Moy et al (2021) identified this task shifting as a key driver of perceived burden.

As a department manager, you're in a key position: you see both the clinical work and the administrative systems. You notice when the team spends more time in front of the screen than in front of the patient.

Three concrete steps to ease the pressure

1. Map where the time actually goes

Before you can streamline, you need to know what takes time. Moy et al (2021) point out that there is a lack of standardized measures for documentation burden - which makes local mapping all the more important. Set aside a week for systematic observation:

• Ask team members to log administrative tasks and time spent for one week
• Identify the three most time-consuming tasks that not is direct patient work
• Question: Which of these are perceived as meaningful, and which are perceived as pure bureaucracy?

This mapping gives you a concrete basis for prioritization - and shows the team that you take your workload seriously.

2. Remove or simplify before you digitize

It's tempting to look for technological solutions right away. But the most effective management tool for healthcare professionals is often the simplest: removing unnecessary steps.

• Review routines and checklists - is everything still necessary, or are some requirements living on old habits?
• Check if there are double registrations that can be eliminated
• Consider whether meeting structures can be tightened without losing professional value

Experience shows that departments that conduct a thorough review of administrative routines can free up significant time - not by cutting quality, but by cutting redundant processes.

3. Give your documentation better tools

Once the unnecessary steps are removed, it's about making the necessary steps faster. There are leadership tools for healthcare professionals that make a real difference.

Gesner et al (2022) showed that poor usability in EHR systems increases burnout. This means that the choice of tool is a management decision with direct consequences for the health of the team. Shah et al (2025), on the other hand, found that speech-to-text-based documentation resulted in a statistically significant reduction in perceived workload.

In the Norwegian context, Medivox has been developed specifically for the healthcare sector and enables nurses and doctors to dictate journal notes directly, instead of entering them manually after each patient contact. For you as a manager, this means fewer overtime hours associated with post-registration - and a team that actually has time to take a break. Nurses who have adopted speech-to-text experience noticeably reduced time spent on record keeping.

From firefighting to prevention

Reducing sick leave is rarely about individual measures. It's about building a workplace where people aren't worn down by tasks that feel meaningless.

As a department manager, you can't change staffing norms or national reporting requirements. But you can influence:

• How to the documentation is carried out in your department
• Which tools the team has access to
• Which routines that actually serve quality - and which ones just serve habit

Administrative streamlining is not an end in itself. It's a means to give healthcare professionals more time for what they are actually trained for - and thus a more sustainable working day.

Checklist: get started this week

• Plan a short survey of administrative time spent in the team
• Identify one routine that can be simplified or removed without compromising quality
• Investigate whether the department can adopt speech-to-text for record-keeping - read about how this relates to proper record keeping
• Put the topic on the agenda in the next department meeting - preferably with input from the team itself

The most important thing you do as a leader

You can't document for your team. But you can make sure that documentation isn't the thing that breaks them down. The best leadership tools for healthcare professionals aren't always the most advanced - sometimes it's just about removing what's in the way.

A team that has time to do its job properly is a team that lasts longer. And that starts with someone - you - seeing the invisible workload and doing something about it.

Sources

• Gesner E, Dykes PC, Zhang L, Gazarian P. Documentation Burden in Nursing and Its Role in Clinician Burnout Syndrome. Appl Clin Inform. 2022;13(5):983-990. PubMed
• Moy AJ, Schwartz JM, Chen R, et al. Measurement of clinical documentation burden among physicians and nurses using electronic health records: a scoping review. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021;28(5):998-1008. PubMed
• Budd J. Burnout Related to Electronic Health Record Use in Primary Care. J Prim Care Community Health. 2023;14:21501319231166921. PubMed
• Shah SJ, Devon-Sand A, Ma SP, et al. Ambient artificial intelligence scribes: physician burnout and perspectives on usability and documentation burden. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2025;32(2):375-380. PubMed
• Section 40 of the Health Personnel Act - Requirements for record keeping (Lovdata)