Dual vs. Single Monitor in a Canadian Hospital Archiving Department: A study of Efficiency and Satisfaction

This was a prospective study that compared, for each archivist, the time required to process records depending on whether a single or a dual monitor was used. We collected data for each archivist during her use of the single monitor for 40 hours and during her use of the dual monitor for 20 hours. During the experimental periods, archivists did not perform other related duties, so we were able to measure the real-time processing of records. To control for the type of records and their impact on the process time required, we categorized the major and minor cases based on whether acute care or day surgery was involved. Overall results show that 1,234 records were processed using a single monitor and 647 records using a dual monitor. The time required to process a record was significantly higher (p-value = 0.071) with a single monitor compared to a dual monitor (19.83 vs. 18.73 minutes). However, the percentage of major cases was significantly higher (p-value = 0.000) in the single monitor group compared to the dual monitor group (78 vs. 69 percent). As a consequence, we needed to adjust our results, which reduced the difference in time required to process a record between the two systems from 1.1 to 0.61 minutes. Thus, the net real-time difference was only 37 seconds in favor of the dual monitor system. This represented a time savings of 3.1% and generated a net cost savings of 7896 Canadian dollars for each workstation that devoted 35 hours per week to the processing of records, over an amortization period of five years. Finally, satisfaction questionnaires responses indicated a high level of satisfaction and support for the dual-monitor system.