Foundations of Healthcare Project Management

This course introduces the foundational concepts of project management in healthcare for learners who are new to formal project management but work in healthcare environments where change initiatives, process improvements, and organizational projects occur regularly. Learners begin by exploring what qualifies as a project in healthcare and how project work differs from ongoing operations. Through realistic healthcare examples and applied activities, they practice identifying projects and examining common project types, including quality improvement initiatives, technology implementations, workflow redesign efforts, and regulatory or compliance-related changes. The course then introduces the healthcare project lifecycle, helping learners understand how projects move from initial ideas through planning, execution, monitoring, and closure. Along the way, learners identify key project roles, explore how clinical and operational stakeholders influence project decisions, and develop practical stakeholder analysis skills that support collaboration and communication. Building on this foundation, learners develop the core components of a healthcare project charter. They practice defining project problems, creating SMART goals, identifying success measures, and establishing project scope, assumptions, and constraints. Through scenario-based exercises and hands-on activities, learners apply these concepts to realistic healthcare situations. By the end of the course, learners will have created a basic healthcare project charter that serves as a practical foundation for planning and managing a healthcare project. This charter becomes the starting point for the more advanced planning, execution, and sustainability topics explored throughout the remainder of the specialization.