Electronic Health Records: A Literature Review of Cyber Threats and Security Measures

Method Of Literature Review

The databases of PubMed (Medline), CINAHL, and ProQuest were used to conduct literature searches regarding cybersecurity concerns related to electronic health records (EHR) with various inclusion and exclusion criteria. Search criteria were limited to blinded peer reviewed scholarly articles published in English since 2011.

Key terms used in the search were: electronic health record, cybersecurity, security, electronic medical record, and private health information. The search yielded an initial sample of 67 articles. Each article was screened by the authors for relevance to the objective. Since very little research has been conducted on this subject, a decision was made to also include informational articles and position papers. Twenty-two papers were reviewed by the research team to determine the top threats to EHR security and literature based recommendations to address or prevent cyber threats.