Ng KWP, See KC. Basic diaphragm ultrasound training: Curriculum implementation and learning trajectory among diaphragm ultrasound naive trainees. World J Methodol 2026; 16(2): 113663 [DOI: 10.5662/wjm.v16.i2.113663]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Kay W P Ng, MD, MRCP, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, National University Hospital, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119074, Singapore. kay_wp_ng@nuhs.edu.sg
Research Domain of This Article
Critical Care Medicine
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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World J Methodol. Jun 20, 2026; 16(2): 113663 Published online Jun 20, 2026. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v16.i2.113663
Basic diaphragm ultrasound training: Curriculum implementation and learning trajectory among diaphragm ultrasound naive trainees
Kay W P Ng, Kay Choong See
Kay W P Ng, Kay Choong See, Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074, Singapore
Kay W P Ng, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074, Singapore
Kay Choong See, Department of Medicine, Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074, Singapore
Author contributions: Ng KWP and See KC designed and conducted the study, contributed to the analysis and wrote the paper; See KC contributed to supervise the writing of the paper. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Domain Specific Review Board, Singapore (approval No. 2020/00177).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Dataset available from corresponding author at kay_wp_ng@nuhs.edu.sg. Consent for data sharing was not obtained from participants but presented data are anonymized and risk of identification is low.
Corresponding author: Kay W P Ng, MD, MRCP, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, National University Hospital, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119074, Singapore. kay_wp_ng@nuhs.edu.sg
Received: September 1, 2025 Revised: September 20, 2025 Accepted: November 26, 2025 Published online: June 20, 2026 Processing time: 234 Days and 18 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: We performed a prospective observational study to determine the number of directly-supervised diaphragm ultrasound (DUS) cases required for DUS-naive trainees to achieve competency. Thirteen trainees completed a theoretical module and questionnaire, then performed a standardized DUS protocol on both right and left hemi-diaphragms under supervision. Our training approach allowed DUS-naive trainees to achieve adequate skills to perform unsupervised right DUS evaluation over a relatively short training period which included at least 20 sets of supervised measurements to assess diaphragm thickening fraction, and at least 10 sets of supervised measurements to assess diaphragm excursion. A higher number of supervised scans may be needed for left DUS training.
