Research trends in hospital information systems in Korea: a topic modeling analysis

This study aims to analyze research papers related to Hospital Information Systems (HIS), including Electronic Health Record and Electronic Medical Record (EMR), in South Korea over three decades. The research explores frequently used terms and concepts in HIS research, examines how these reflect key focus areas, and investigates the evolution of research trends. This study employed text preprocessing, text network analysis, and a large language model (LLM)-based topic modeling approach. Network analysis identified the most connected keywords in the research corpus, highlighting their central importance across diverse studies. Through LLM-based topic modeling, seven distinct research topics were identified. Intertopic distance mapping revealed significant conceptual overlap between system performance and digital transformation research, while Security and Privacy Management and Health Information Exchange emerged as more distinct areas. Temporal analysis demonstrated evolution in research focus, beginning with system performance in the 1990s, shifting toward EMR adoption and nursing applications, then emphasizing digitalization and security concerns. Recent trends continue to emphasize security alongside digital integration of hospital information infrastructure. These findings reveal that future research should prioritize security in complex healthcare ecosystems, address the underdeveloped area of documentation standardization, and investigate user experience across diverse clinical settings to understand HIS implementation barriers.