Objective To identify research hotspots and development trends of digital and intelligent nursing in China from 2020 to 2025, and to provide references for the advancement of digital and intelligent nursing in China. Methods Relevant articles published in core journals were retrieved from CNKI, VIP, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, and China Biology Medicine Database.A total of 3,571 articles were selected as the research samples.The LDA model was applied to extract research themes, complemented by term frequency analysis and visualization techniques to clarify thematic structures. Results Seven topics were identified, including smart hospital management, technology-assisted care, chronic disease management and postoperative rehabilitation, smart elderly care services, clinical decision support, nursing talent development, and health education and psychological nursing. Smart management and technical empowerment emerged as the core research directions.The research settings are expanding from within hospitals to outside.Evidence-based decision-making and capacity building have gradually attracted attention, while patient-centered psychological nursing and health promotion are relatively weak. Conclusion Research on digital and intelligent nursing in China is characterized by multidimensional expansion and interdisciplinary integration.Future efforts should focus on improving nursing ethical governance frameworks, improving the collaborative continuous nursing service both inside and outside the hospital, enhancing training of nursing professionals in artificial intelligence, promoting the deep integration of technological innovation and humanistic care, and thereby comprehensively advancing the development of digital and intelligent nursing.