Impact of Screen Density on Clinical Nurses' Computer Task Performance and Subjective Screen Satisfaction

Abstract This study examined the effect of a finite amount of information being displayed in three different methods: one high density, two moderate density, or three low density screens. Screens displaying retrieved laboratory results were used to test clinical nurses' task times, accuracy, and subjective screen satisfaction. The study sample was 110 randomly selected clinical nurses from a university medical center. Repeated measures with post-hoc analyses indicated that, for all repetitions and for practiced tasks, nurses found information targets significantly more quickly on high density than either moderate or low, and significantly more quickly on moderate versus low density screens. Nurses' mean accuracy and screen satisfaction scores were essentially the same for the three screens. These results suggest increases in screen information density, within the study restrictions here, can result in faster performance times without sacrificing nurses' accuracy or screen satisfaction. Implications for system designers and clinicians indicate low density laboratory results retrieval screens in federal computer systems may be redesigned into one high information-density screen without loss of user accuracy or screen satisfaction.