Project management success in health: the need of additional research in public health projects

Abstract

The research about the factors that are linked to project management performance and project management success, has been developed for several years, so the literature about this subject is relatively extensive. After a literature review about project success factors, it was found that the current research effort is mainly focused on information technology, engineering and software development projects, not yet on public health projects. Public health projects have a different focus, are concerned on providing conditions in which people can be healthy, and are essential for populations’ welfare. Their distinctive attributes justify the need of research towards the development of a specific model of success factors, to support top management and project managers in planning and operational management. A model of success factors would help in the identification, control and minimization of issues that increase the likelihood of going in the wrong direction and strengthen those that create value or increase the probability of going successfully. It would also be useful as a tool for prediction and diagnosis in evaluating objectively and gradually minimize the probability of project failure, and thus assist in improving the project performance. This article presents a brief literature review on project management success and points out the need of additional research for public health projects in this area.