Evaluating Project Success for Emergency Healthcare Infrastructure Based on the Cloud Matter-Element Model

In response to large-scale health crises, emergency healthcare infrastructure projects (EHIPs) have been implemented to provide healthcare services rapidly. However, few studies have systematically explored the success of these projects. This study aims to assess the success of EHIPs throughout the whole life cycle using a cloud matter-element model (CMEM). Considering multiple performance indicators that measure the success of EHIPs, a hierarchy model of the project success index is proposed through eight rounds of Delphi surveys. This model comprises 10 key performance indicators (KPIs) that are most appropriate for measuring the success of EHIPs and 20 quantitative metrics aligned with these KPIs across the life cycle. Based on the hierarchy model, the CMEM is applied to evaluate the success of EHIPs, which effectively addresses the fuzziness and randomness inherent in the Delphi process. Two cases were then utilized for verifying the practicality of the proposed project success assessment model. The findings demonstrate that the CMEM-based assessment offers not only significant flexibility but also high accuracy, robustness, and scalability. The CMEM-based assessment seamlessly integrates numerous incompatible indexes and their characteristic values, without being limited by the number of evaluation indexes. Further, sensitivity analyses are conducted to test the robustness of the assessment model and its results. These analyses confirmed that the CMEM is a robust, reliable, and adaptable tool for assessing the success of EHIPs. Theoretically, this study should set an exemplar of aggregating the performance measurement with emergency management and healthcare systems, facilitating an efficient response to major crises. It also provides a novel approach to evaluating multiple-criteria decision-making problems. Practically, this study should enable project management teams to identify and improve weak areas, ensuring continuous success in the EHIP-related domain.