Patient data security isn’t top of mind for most clinicians on the ward, and that opens up the possibility for avoidable mistakes that lead to costly, harmful data breaches, Forrester cybersecurity experts Salvatore Schiano, Chris Sherman and Chris McClean asserted in their contribution this month to the Harvard Business Review.

“As medical professionals first, they do what it takes to provide the best care, even if that sometimes means ignoring or going around security policies (as 4% report),” the group observed. “For this industry especially, security policies that reduce productivity are at irreconcilable odds with the organization and its patients.”

“Instead, employees should be inspired to act securely as part of their daily routine. Just as no one has to tell a surgeon to scrub before surgery, good security hygiene has to become ingrained in employee culture,” they reasoned.

Read more here in the authors’ contribution to this month’s Harvard Business Review.