Assessing Cybersecurity Readiness Among U.S. Nursing Students: A Pathway to Enhanced Healthcare Security

Abstract

Today, healthcare data breaches threaten national security and patients, but these problems are not new. Breaches from ransomware, social engineering, insider threats, and network-connected medical devices, among others, have grown more complex with rapid technological advancement. The healthcare workforce should be receiving the most current cybersecurity awareness training to help protect patients’ safety, data, and privacy to the maximum level of protection. The initial approach in this research aimed to explore and evaluate general cybersecurity awareness among nursing students in real-world settings to protect patients’ safety, data, and privacy as they prepare for their profession. Only one complete response was obtained during the initial approach; this unresponsiveness became a critical reflection point, signaling the need to examine why students may not engage with cybersecurity topics, even when supported by academic leadership. A potential explanation for this disconnect may lie in the educational preparation itself, leading to an investigation of whether the absence of strong cybersecurity awareness among nursing students reflects limited exposure to such topics in their undergraduate curriculum. Specifically, the study went on to explore whether accredited BSN programs in the U.S. South Atlantic Division have meaningfully incorporated cybersecurity, cyber-related, or digital safety content into their coursework over the last ten years. This study revealed multiple concerning patterns that raise questions about how well current BSN programs prepare students for the cybersecurity demands of modern healthcare. Notably, most programs showed no evidence of preparing students for cybersecurity responsibilities under the HIPAA Security Rule.