HSCC Releases Free Video Series Providing Healthcare Cybersecurity Awareness, Training to Clinicians

The Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) Cybersecurity Working Group has released a free eight-part video series entitled “Cybersecurity for the Clinician.” The video series provides organizations with quick, digestible, and accessible training and awareness information that can be built into any organization’s security training programs.

The eight videos, all available on YouTube, total 45 minutes in length and are intended for use by private clinical practices, academic institutions, and healthcare provider organizations of all sizes. Collectively, the videos can be used to obtain one CME/CEU credit hour, and may satisfy documentation requirements for the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule, the National Fire Protection Association, and The Joint Commission for Facility Hazard Vulnerability Analysis and Risk Analysis and Training.

Hosted by Christian Dameff, MD, an emergency room physician and self-taught hacker, the video series covers key healthcare cybersecurity challenges such as ransomware and medical device security, while offering actionable tips for clinicians who may find themselves struggling to access medical records and critical devices amid a cyber event.  

“Every hospital C-Suite executive needs to support a good cybersecurity program, which includes training clinical staff on the basics,” said Mark Jarrett, chairman of the HSCC. “I would advise every hospital system in the country to consider using ‘Cybersecurity for the Clinician’ in their learning management systems.”

Greg Garcia, HSCC’s executive director and keynote speaker at the 3rd Annual HealthITSecurity Virtual Summit, gave summit attendees an overview of the video series and described the HSCC’s motivations for creating this resource.

“We know that healthcare institutions, particularly the small hospitals and rural critical access hospitals, have other things to worry about than cybersecurity,” said during his presentation.  

“And we recognize that there are some very difficult decisions to be made when you’re running these organizations. But we just don’t want our healthcare stakeholders to lose sight of the fact that patient safety requires cyber safety.”

Cybersecurity training and awareness programs are crucial for healthcare organizations. An effective cybersecurity program requires buy-in not just from the cybersecurity team, but from everyone in the organization, including clinicians.

Check out the first episode of the series here: