Visualization and bibliometric analysis of occupational exposure among nurses in Asia

Xiaorui Zhang; Yunzhe Zhou; Chunmei Fan; Xueying Huang; Linna Long; Siying Yu; Honghong Wang; He Huang

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21289

Visualization and bibliometric analysis of occupational exposure among nurses in Asia

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 20;9(11):e21289. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21289. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Authors

Xiaorui Zhang^{1

2

3}, Yunzhe Zhou⁴, Chunmei Fan^{1

2}, Xueying Huang^{1

2}, Linna Long^{1

2}, Siying Yu^{1

2}, Honghong Wang³, He Huang^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ NHC Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis, Cancer Research Institute and School of Basic Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China.
² Department of Histology and Embryology, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China.
³ Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment of High Incidence Diseases in Central Asia, School of Pre-Clinical Medicine/Second Affiliated Hospital, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China.

Abstract

Background: Occupational exposure is of increasing concern, posing a serious threat to nurses, especially in the event of a public health emergency. Bibliometrics sheds novel light on the current state of research and factors influencing nurses' occupational exposures, illuminating hot topics and trends in the literature. Bibliometrics is essential to analyze the potential harm to nurses in Asia.

Methods: Data were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection on August 6, 2022 with the following search terms: TS= (nurses) AND (TS= (occupational exposure OR occupational health)). CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to analyze national and institutional collaborations, reference clustering, citations and co-citations of journals and keyword bursts, and HistCite was used to analyze the citation historiography map. To analyze the data and generate statistical charts, Origin and Microsoft Excel were utilized.

Results: A total of 1448 studies on nurses' occupational exposure in Asia were identified. China Medical University had the most publications among Asian institutions, and China had the largest share among Asian countries. Most articles on nurses' occupational exposure in Asia were in the Journal of Occupational Health, and the journal with the highest impact factor was the Journal of Nursing Management. The COVID-19 outbreak caused a substantial shift in the direction of studies on nurses' occupational exposure in Asia. Mental health is a current hot topic, while sharps injuries and bodily fluid exposure are long-term priorities for attention.

Conclusions: The hotspots of research on nurses' occupational exposure in Asia focus on mental health, burnout, blood exposure, infection, and sharps injury. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recent research has concentrated on personalized mental health care and the development of protective equipment, and cross-disciplinary collaboration may be a new trend in the future.

Keywords: Asia; Bibliometric analysis; Nurses; Nursing research; Occupational exposure.