Medicine and the McNamara fallacy

The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
S O'Mahony

Abstract

The 'McNamara fallacy' (also known as quantitative fallacy) is named after the US Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. The fallacy consists of over-reliance on metrics, and may be summarised as: 'if it cannot be measured, it is not important'. This paper describes the McNamara fallacy as it applies to medicine and healthcare, taking as examples hospital mortality data, NHS targets and quality assurance.

Citations

Sep 6, 2018·Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology·David Kerr, David C Klonoff
Nov 2, 2019·International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being·Tore Dag BøeAlain Topor
Aug 4, 2020·Physiological Reports·Ian M Williams, Wyn G Lewis
Apr 30, 2020·Postgraduate Medical Journal·Arfon G PowellWyn G Lewis
Aug 24, 2019·Journal of Graduate Medical Education·J Bryan Carmody
Sep 25, 2020·Journal of Medical Ethics·John McMillan
Mar 26, 2021·Nature·Dagomar DegrootNatale Zappia
Aug 11, 2020·Annals of Surgery·Roberto BergamaschiFeza Remzi
Nov 30, 2021·Journal of Health Organization and Management·Caroline Cupit, Natalie Armstrong

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