Cybersecurity education privacy in nursing disciplines - a bibliometric analysis

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Digital Health Education
• Cybersecurity in Healthcare

Background:

• Nurses are critical in safeguarding patient data, but formal cybersecurity training is often lacking in nursing education.
• The increasing digitization of healthcare necessitates a review of academic coverage of cybersecurity topics for nurses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the representation of cybersecurity education within nursing literature.
• To identify global research trends, key contributors, and emerging themes in nursing cybersecurity awareness and education.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of 2498 publications from the Web of Science database (1993-2024).
• Utilized Python, Bibliometrix, Orange Tools, and VOSviewer for network mapping, author/institution analysis, and thematic visualization.
• Applied sentiment analysis, word clouds, topic modeling, and t-SNE for comprehensive theme identification.

Main Results:

• A significant increase in publications on nursing cybersecurity was observed from 2015 to 2023.
• Key themes identified include data protection, patient privacy, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, and nurses' perceptions.
• A notable gap exists between academic discourse and the integration of cybersecurity topics into formal nursing curricula, with most students lacking adequate exposure.

Conclusions:

• Cybersecurity education remains underrepresented in nursing programs despite its critical relevance.
• Enhanced collaboration between nursing educators and cybersecurity experts is essential.
• Integrating topics like digital ethics, legal compliance, and data privacy into nursing curricula is vital for preparing future nurses for digital healthcare.