The rapid development of medical social work benefits from the implementation of policies in Shanghai,while a hospital mainly selects social workers through the recruitment,which ultimately affects the level of professionalization in this area.Using content analysis of 16 pieces of recruitment information of medical social workers,combing with the semi-structured interview of 11 staff from 11 Shanghai hospitals,this study explored the recruitment requirement for medical social workers and the level and connotation of medical social work’s professionalization in Shanghai.The results show that the most hospitals require applicants with higher educational background(Bachelor’s degree or above),major in social work or related major,with social worker license and certain practical experience.This indicates that the hospitals in Shanghai have put forward higher professional requirements for their applicants,which may be the reason for the higher level of professionalization of medical social workers in Shanghai.This study also found that these hospitals emphasized the abilities of clinical service,communication,resource linking,volunteer management and so on,which showed the direction of professionalization promotion of medical social work in Shanghai.