In the context of implementing the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system, in order to solve the prominent problems of uneven distribution of medical resources, low utilization of primary health resources and other prominent problems, the joint ward has emerged as an innovative medical service collaboration model, which is of great significance for further accelerating the allocation and sharing of high-quality medical resources.

To understand the current status of joint ward development in Pudong New Area, analyze in depth the operation mode and difficulties encountered during implementation, and provide optimization strategies for improving the utilization of medical resources and residents' access to convenient, high-quality medical resources.

From November 2024 to March 2025, the literature research method was adopted to systematically search domestic and foreign databases as well as the official website of local health commissions, aiming to obtain policy documents and literature related to the development of joint wards, so as to summarize the main development models of joint wards in China along with their advantages and disadvantages. In August 2024, the key informant interview method was adopted to conduct semi-structured interviews with the main persons in charge of the joint wards from 5 medical alliance leading hospitals and 7 community health service centers, so as to understand issues such as specially development, matching of advantageous diseases, and development constraints in the joint wards of medical consortia.

Our team found that the main development model of joint wards in China is led by medical consortium leading hospitals and involves cooperation among medical institutions at all levels. There were five typical development models, among which the "hospital community" one-stop ward construction was the main operating model, providing patients with a direct transition to medical care. The research on the exploration and construction of joint wards in Pudong New Area had found that there were currently problems such as the lack of prominent advantageous disease construction, incomplete arrangements for physician training, difficulty in coordinating the transfer of patients, and insufficient coverage of publicity work. Based on this, the study proposed to optimize the visual implementation plan for the development of joint wards in Pudong New Area from four aspects: the construction of rules and regulations, the grasp of core points, the grasp of key elements, and the construction of external conditions.

The joint ward in Pudong New Area is in the stage of exploration and development. In practice, it is recommended to focus on improving the level of community specialties, taking the construction of advantageous diseases as the core focus, increasing the publicity of joint wards, stimulating the work enthusiasm of joint ward teams, scientifically and reasonably arranging the training time of community doctors, and establishing a flexible management mechanism for joint wards, so that residents can enjoy high-quality medical services "nearby", and provide a feasible practical paradigm for the construction of joint wards in other regions of China.