Hotspots and Global Trends of Nursing Research on Telehealth From 2012 to 2021

Abstract

Telehealth is commonly used in nursing in recent years; however, there is a lack of information on hotspots and global trends over time. This study aimed to analyze the bibliometric patterns of telehealth research in nursing. This is a descriptive bibliometric study. Data were obtained from Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace version 6.1.R6 was used to perform analysis. The co-occurrence and co-citation analyses were conducted. A total of 1365 articles were analyzed. A total of 354 authors and 352 institutions from 68 countries have contributed telehealth research in nursing. The most productive author was Kathryn H. Bowles with six articles. The United States with 688 articles and University of Pennsylvania with 22 articles were the most productive country and institution, respectively. The top 10 keywords on this research area were care, intervention, management, health, technology, quality of life, outcome, mobile application, telemedicine, and experience. In addition, the common themes on keywords were nurse practitioner student perception, hemodialysis patients, and heart failure. The study will help to finding potential collaborators, countries, and institutions for future researchers. In addition, it will guide researchers, practitioners, and scholars in further studies, health policy development, and evidence-based practice on telehealth in nursing.