. 2019 Nov 20;14(11):e0225243. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225243

Table 2. Time period and final participants of Delphi study.

Delphi rounds	Round Objective	Study in China	Study in the USA
Delphi rounds	Round Objective	Time Period	Time Period
Round 1	Get the agreement rate for each activity/ program	20, Sept -10 Oct, 2010	10, July–2 Sep, 2014
Round 2	Revise the questionnaire of each activity/ program according to the agree rates. Hand out the modified questionnaire and get the agree rate once more.	8–22 Nov, 2010	19 Sep–11 Nov, 2014
Final Participants		Participants in China(N = 20)	Participants in USA(N = 19)
	Academic	10	10
	Senior Managers (Hospitals)	7	7
	Policy Maker	3	2

Sources: Study findings; China: 2010, USA: 2014; Note: In China 20 experts participated in first and second Delphi and in the U.S. 19 experts participated in first round and 13 experts responded second Delphi.