Security in the clinical laboratory. Guidelines for managing the information resource.

The principal product produced by the clinical laboratory is information. This is true whether or not an automated system is used to organize and retrieve this information. It follows that great care must be exercised in ensuring that the stored data are accurate in the sense that they truly and always represent those data that were meant to be recorded. Various forces may act to compromise this information including (1) accidents, such as fire, floods, or earthquakes; (2) human error; and (3) deliberate acts, such as sabotage or theft of information. An organized plan for systematically managing the "information resource" has become critical. To safeguard against the potential catastrophic loss of information, a formal information resource management policy must be adopted within the clinical laboratory and directed by a specific individual, under the guidance of the director of pathology.