Trends in Research on the Security of Medical Information in Korea: Focused on Information Privacy Security in Hospitals

Abstract

Objectives: Information technology involves a risk of privacy violation in providing easy access to confidential information,such as personal information and medical information through the Internet. In this study, we investigated medical informationsecurity to gain a better understanding of trends in research related to medical information security. Methods: Weresearched papers published on ‘의료정보’ and ‘medical information’ in various Korean journals during a 10-year periodfrom 2005 to 2015. We also analyzed these journal papers for each fiscal year; these papers were categorized into the areasof literature research and empirical research, and were further subdivided according to themes and subjects. Results: It wasconfirmed that 48 papers were submitted to 35 academic journals. There were 33 (68.8%) literature review articles, andanalysis of secondary data was not carried out at all. In terms of empirical research, 8 (16.7%) surveys and 7 (14.6%) programdevelopments were studied. As a result of analyzing these papers according to the research theme by research method,17 (35.4%) papers on laws, systems, and policies were the most numerous. It was found that among the literature researchpapers on medical personnel were the most common, and among the empirical research papers, research on experts in informationprotection and medical personnel were the most common. Conclusions: We suggest that further research should bedone in terms of social perception, human resource development, and technology development to improve risk managementin medical information systems.