title: What ethics for case managers? Literature review and discussion.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about case managers' ethical issues and professional values.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article presents an overview of ethical issues in case managers' current practice. Findings are examined in the light of nursing ethics, social work ethics and principle-based biomedical ethics.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic literature review was performed to identify and analyse empirical studies concerning ethical issues in case management programmes. It was completed by systematic content analysis of case managers' national codes of ethics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only nine empirical studies were identified, eight of them from North America. The main dilemmas were how to balance system goals against the client's interest and client protection against autonomy. Professional codes of ethics shared important similarities, but offered different responses to these two dilemmas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We discuss the respective roles of professional and organizational ethics. Further lines of research are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Rennes University Hospital, France; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany; Centre de Recherches sur l'Action Politique en Europe, France Aline.corvol@chu-rennes.fr.
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corvol
authors.affiliation: PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité, France; Management of Health Organization (EA 7348), EHESP, France; Paris University Hospital (APHP), France.
authors.forename: Grégoire
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moutel
authors.affiliation: Rennes 1 University, France; Rennes University Hospital, France; Centre for Research on Political Action in Europe (CRAPE), France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Somme
mesh_terms: D026688:Bioethical Issues; D000071959:Case Managers / Q000941:ethics*; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D036262:Empirical Research; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D012947:Social Work / Q000941:ethics*
keywords: Case management; empirical ethics; organizational ethics; relational ethics; social work; systematic review