The importance of Project Management (PM) in hospitals is growing due to the increasing amalgamation of disciplines in conjunction with the need for greater efficiency and quality of services in hospitals. Current experience in hospital projects and conversations with people involved in hospital projects has led to the initiative to investigate the project management situation in hospitals more closely. Goals:
Clarification of the current situation of project management in hospitals as a basis for the development of information for the introduction and support of professional project management in hospitals. Based on thirteen qualitative half-standardized expert interviews with people working in different project management contexts in German speaking hospitals, there was a substantiation of the assumptions that in Swiss hospitals, there is currently no common practice for project management or a general systematic overarching project management implementation, nor is there currently a project management culture. Results:
The goal of developing the basis for the introduction of professional project management could therefore only be reached on a low maturity level and tends to be derived deductively. The following recommendations and principles could be developed and published:

• Initiation of dialogue about project management in executive boards leading to decisions to development one’s own adapted interdisciplinary project culture
• Definition about what a project is (and is not) and which types or projects and phases have to be distinguished
• Introduction of topic-specific, interdisciplinary project/executive committees with the necessary discretionary competences and regular decision-making meetings
• Definition of the most important project management subject areas with the essential minimum standards
• Appointment of administrative/formal project support
• Designation and empowerment of project leaders
• Official and transparent approval of financial and staff resources for projects

In addition, continuing exchange with hospitals concerning specific questions and problems of PM in hospitals will be sought in order to set up a community for PM in hospitals.