How Medical Social Workers Go through Ethical Dilemmas with Displaced Patients: A Qualitative Study Based on a Tertiary Hospital in Shanghai, China

This study focused on services for displaced patients at a Shanghai tertiary hospital and explored how social workers went through ethical dilemmas from an ecological and care ethics perspective. Using clinical data mining, the authors analyzed 49 case records, revealing that patients encountered multifaceted challenges stemming from personal, familial, medical, and social systems. This research led to a social work intervention model, focusing on the empowerment of the individual system, reconstruction of the family system, coordination of the medical system, and integration of the social system. It is recommended that medical social workers adopt a systematic approach to address the diverse needs of displaced patients, and foster collaboration across personal, familial, medical, and social domains, emphasizing empowering patients and families in ethical decision making, striving to align resources with needs amid social structural challenges, and advocating policy support and establishing a care system, while critically evaluating the application of care ethics in these cases.