Which practice would help finish a message search quicker?

Limiting the time period searched is a highly effective practice for speeding up a message search. When a specific time frame is set, the search is narrowed down to a smaller dataset, which reduces the volume of data the system must sift through. This focused approach enhances the efficiency of the search process, leading to quicker retrieval of relevant messages.

This practice is especially beneficial in systems with extensive message histories, as it avoids the overhead associated with processing unrelated or excessive amounts of information. By concentrating on a defined timeframe, users can more readily locate pertinent messages without wading through irrelevant data.

In contrast, searching with patient names only may still retrieve a large amount of information if there are many messages associated with those names. Increasing the search complexity could actually slow down the search by introducing more variables, and using more general terms might yield a broader set of results that can complicate the search further. Thus, limiting the time period is the most effective strategy for achieving faster search results.