DIFFERENCES IN TIME TO INTERPRETATION FOR EVALUATION OF BONE RADIOGRAPHS WITH MONITOR AND FILM VIEWING

Rationale and Objectives. The authors evaluated how observers search h ard-copy versus soft-copy images to determine why viewing times are lo nger for images displayed on a monitor. Methods. Twenty-seven nonconse cutive bone-trauma computed radiographs were collected from the routin e emergency practice, Eye positions of three bone radiologists and thr ee orthopedic surgeons were recorded as they searched images on a view box and digital images at a workstation. Results. Overall viewing tim e was longer for images displayed on a monitor, Time to first fixate a lesion and true-negative dwell times were significantly longer with t he monitor than with the film. Absolute numbers of clusters and dwell times were greater for diagnostic image areas on the monitor than on t he film. Twenty percent of the clusters for images viewed on the monit or were on the image-processing menu, Conclusion. The amount and type of information that is processed during search is different when image s are viewed on a monitor rather than on film.