Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
Utrecht Center for Research and Development of Health Professions Education, Division of Education, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2024 Jun 12;19(6):e0302437. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302437. eCollection 2024.
The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) is a consensus group method used to synthesize expert opinions. Given the global shift to virtual meetings, the extent to which researchers leveraged virtual platforms is unclear. This scoping review explores the use of the vNGT in healthcare research during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the Arksey and O'Malley's framework, eight cross-disciplinary databases were searched (January 2020-July 2022). Research articles that reported all four vNGT stages (idea generation, round robin sharing, clarification, voting) were included. Media Synchronicity Theory informed analysis. Corresponding authors were surveyed for additional information.
Of 2,589 citations, 32 references were included. Articles covered healthcare (27/32) and healthcare education (4/32). Platforms used most were Zoom, MS Teams and GoTo but was not reported in 44% of studies. Only 22% commented on the benefits/challenges of moving the NGT virtually. Among authors who responded to our survey (16/32), 80% felt that the vNGT was comparable or superior.
The vNGT provides several advantages such as the inclusion of geographically dispersed participants, scheduling flexibility and cost savings. It is a promising alternative to the traditional in-person meeting, but researchers should carefully describe modifications, potential limitations, and impact on results.
名义群体技术（NGT）是一种共识小组方法，用于综合专家意见。鉴于全球向虚拟会议的转变，研究人员利用虚拟平台的程度尚不清楚。本范围综述探讨了在 COVID-19 大流行期间虚拟名义群体技术在医疗保健研究中的应用。
根据 Arksey 和 O'Malley 的框架，对八个跨学科数据库进行了搜索（2020 年 1 月至 2022 年 7 月）。纳入了报告所有四个虚拟 NGT 阶段（想法生成、轮流分享、澄清、投票）的研究文章。媒体同步理论指导了分析。向相应的作者进行了调查以获取更多信息。
在 2589 条引文中，有 32 篇参考文献被纳入。文章涵盖了医疗保健（27/32）和医疗保健教育（4/32）。使用最多的平台是 Zoom、MS Teams 和 GoTo，但在 44%的研究中未报告。只有 22%的研究评论了将 NGT 转移到虚拟环境的好处/挑战。在回应我们调查的作者（32 人中有 16 人）中，80%的人认为虚拟 NGT 可与传统的面对面会议相媲美或更优。
虚拟 NGT 具有许多优势，例如可以包括地理位置分散的参与者、灵活的日程安排和节省成本。它是传统面对面会议的一种有前途的替代方案，但研究人员应仔细描述修改、潜在限制以及对结果的影响。
