At low levels, an increase in the level of multitasking initially leads to more diagnoses. However, at increasing levels of multitasking, physicians make fewer diagnoses; thus physicians tend to make the most number of diagnoses when the level of multitasking is closer to 6 patients. This provides support for the hypothesis 3.


Macalester College

Key Estimates for Hypotheses:
- Hypothesis 1A
- Hypothesis 1B
- Hypothesis 2
- Hypothesis 3

Results (Does Multitasking Improve Performance? Evidence from the Emergency Department)

Diwas, K.C., (2013) Does Multitasking Improve Performance? Evidence from the Emergency Department. Emory University Goizueta Business School. 
Electronic copy available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=2261757


Does Multitasking Improve Performance? Evidence from the Emergency Department

Multitasking is initially associated with a reduction in busy period duration, as evidenced by the negative value for the linear coefficient term for multitasking (0.77, p<0.01) The coefficient estimates and the results for the U-shaped effect of multitasking (hypothesis 1A) are largely unchanged by including heterogeneity due to workload and patient mix.

Hypothesis 1A Results (Does Multitasking Improve Performance? Evidence from the Emergency Department)

Multitasking is initially associated with improvement in physician throughput rate based on estimation of the second model in the study; at low levels of multitasking a physician can improve throughput rate by taking on additional patients and utilizing idle time. At high levels of multitasking, the sources of throughput loss play a dominant role. Multitasking thus has an inverted U-shaped effect on throughput rate, providing support for hypothesis 1B.


Hypothesis 1B Results (Does Multitasking Improve Performance? Evidence from the Emergency Department)

- Researchers find that initially, the multitasking physician experiences fewer 24-hour patient revisits. However, with increasing levels of multitasking, they begin to see more frequent 24-hour revisits. This provides support for hypothesis 2. Based on these estimates, the optimal number of patients to multitask to reduce revisits is around 4. 

- Based on the model specification the optimal level of physician multitasking that maximizes throughput rate is around 5 patients. However, the level of multitasking that maximizes throughput will likely vary across physicians, due to differences in individual working styles and inherent capabilities.



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