Project Management Practices And Implementation Of Health Projects In Public Hospitals In Nyeri County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The project implementation phase requires close collaboration with clients to ensure that the project is delivered on time within the defined scope and cost to meet the organization’s needs. Organizations must know which critical factors are most responsible for the success of a project to manage these factors in the best possible manner. Healthcare projects aim to improve access to healthcare, strengthening human resources, and empowering vulnerable groups. However, despite the commitment from the government and private sector to enhance health access and delivery, evidence shows that majority of health care projects especially infrastructure projects do not achieve success. The purpose of the study was to establish the project management practices in the implementation of health projects. Specifically the study sought to assess the effect of government policies, planning, human resources and funding on project implementation. The study was anchored in the theory of Constraints and systems theory. The target population of this study was the hospital management teams, project implementers and representatives from government agencies and non-governmental organizations who were involved in the health projects in one way or the other in level 4 and level 5 hospitals in Nyeri County. Stratified random sampling and simple random sampling were used to recruit 154 respondents in the study. Data was collected by use of questionnaires. Descriptive methods such as frequency distribution and percentages were used to organize data. A Regression model was adopted to test the relationships between the study variables. All analysis was conducted with the help of SPSS version 22 for windows. Findings were presented using tables and figures. The study found that the vast majority of respondents in the study agreed that projects in the hospitals are subject to regulatory control from the government. The study found that the vast majority of respondents in the study agreed that projects in the hospitals are subject to regulatory control from the government. The study found that all respondents agreed that the hospital undertakes recruitment process with integrity and in a transparent manner which makes all employees satisfied. Findings showed that majority of respondents indicated that the availability of funding was low. Similarly, majority indicated that the timeliness of funding was low. The vast majority also indicated that the adequacy of funding was low. Regression analysis yielded that government policies, project planning and funding were significant. There was a strong positive correlation between project management practices and implementation of health projects in public hospitals. More specifically, the findings show that project management practices account for 63.3% of project implementation. Project management practices significantly predicted project implementation. The study concluded that project implementation is affected by bureaucratic government policies, demotivated staff and inadequate funding. The study recommended that hospital management teams should be given more autonomy to plan and implement their projects free of control from the government and politicians. The study also recommended that Tendering processes in the government should be reviewed to reduce bureaucracy to timely initiation and therefore implementation of projects.