Process Improvement with Electronic Health Records

Chapter 7

Step 5: Obtain Baseline Data

You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

—Old saying, source uncertain

It is interesting that this quote (or another, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”) is often associated with the management guru Peter Drucker or the statistician and philosopher W. Edwards Deming, when its source remains obscure. It is known, however, that Deming observed that:

…the most important figures that one needs for management are unknown or unknowable, but successful management must nevertheless take account of them. ...