Physicians are not burning out from patient care, but from the bureaucracy of helping. This phenomenon is known as moral injury: the clinician recognizes the patient's need, but the rigid system prevents timely action.

In this viewpoint article, Oskari Ventilä proposes data-based trust as the solution. The current "cycle of distrust," where treating physicians write prose and insurance doctors reject claims based on incomplete data, can be replaced by three structural changes:

• Structured Data: Replacing prose-based statements with validated metrics (e.g., WHODAS 2.0) filled out by the patient, or assisted by staff if necessary.
• Automation & The "Green Line": When clinical assessment and metric data align, AI handles pre-processing to speed up decisions.
• Ambient AI: Speech recognition and AI draft notes in the background, freeing the doctor to maintain eye contact and connection.

Even a 30-minute daily time saving would computationally release the workforce equivalent of nearly 1,000 physicians in the public sector.

Note: The link below directs to the Finnish Medical Journal website. Access to the full article requires a valid membership.