The prevailing consensus in implementation science is that meaningful change require data driven approaches. Authors like James Harrington agree and emphasize the importance of measurement as ‘the first step to improvement’. In business we are reminded of the well-known mantra ‘that what can be measured, can be managed’.
It is certainly true that projects with clear objectives are more likely to succeed than those without. Unsurprisingly then, modern health care organisations routinely (and sometimes reflexively) collect many types of data at considerable cost.
However, by focussing solely on KPIs, measurement and data, there is a risk that important factors, unintended consequences, and intangible benefits may be missed.
In fact, the sheer volume of Big Data in healthcare increasingly threatens to exceed our capacity and resources to analyse and use it to its full potential.
Collecting data also increasingly encroach on the available time for consultations and the communion of clinicians, consumers, and communities. There are no measurable indicators for compassion, kindness, or empathy, but these intangible qualities are arguably more important now than ever before.
As we continue along our inevitably data-driven journeys, it therefore seems timely to reflect on the words of the late Prof Elliot Eisner that ‘not everything important is measurable, and not everything measurable is important’. Meaningful improvement requires the practical wisdom to understand the difference.