DEVELOPING A TOPSIS MODEL FOR PRIORITISING SUCCESS FACTORS IN HEALTHCARE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Healthcare facilities play an important role in the welfare of countries while posing many challenges to health service providers.In addition to high cost and multi-specialization, design and execution complexities are a few challenges in building such facilities that often lead to delays, cost overruns, and off-specifications.The success of healthcare construction projects enhances the quality of services and entails the implementation of social justice.The existing literature on the success of construction projects shows that apart from cost, time, and quality, other factors, such as communication, access to resources, stable political and economic conditions, skilled workers, and management knowledge, play essential roles in the success of projects.In previous studies, success factors were generally identified for different sectors such as building, oil and gas, and road construction projects, and no study has identified specific success factors for healthcare construction projects that have unique attributes compared to regular building projects.Therefore, this study aims to determine the success factors by conducting open-ended interviews with experts and prioritizing the factors using the TOPSIS method to develop a tool for measuring the success of such facilities.The results revealed 56 success factors that were classified into eight groups.Correct estimation of project time, design accuracy, realistic budget estimates, sufficient feasibility studies, and compliance with the environment are the top factors that may increase the chance of success in healthcare projects.The outcomes of this research will be useful for stakeholders in healthcare construction projects to raise their awareness of how to execute successful projects in the future.Moreover, the developed TOPSIS model can be used to measure the success rate of facilities that are under construction or have been constructed recently, enabling stakeholders to learn from previous experiences.