POCUS training at IU School of Medicine

IU School of Medicine students gain skills progressively throughout their four years of training:

• Phase 1 (Years 1 and 2): Students learn about POCUS and how to use the technology to perform scans, setting the foundation of their POCUS skills. Early on, students learn how to identify anatomy on a POCUS image and consider how POCUS exams fit within a clinical context. They have many opportunities to practice in class, simulations, and POCUS labs.
• Phase 2 (Year 3): POCUS curriculum extends throughout required clerkships, which allows students to increase their knowledge and skills in clinical settings.
• Phase 3 (Year 4): In their final year, students gain additional experience by participating in SonoKombat, a gaming tournament of various POCUS skills and knowledge. They continue to gain clinical experience during 4th year clerkships. Electives are also available.

As students grow their competencies, various levels of assessment are implemented.  Assessment types could include questions incorporated into unit tests, pre-work quizzes and skills assessment. At the conclusion of their clinical clerkships, students are evaluated as a portion of the clinical performance exam that assesses multiple skills related to POCUS skill acquisition as well as Medical Knowledge quiz.

POCUS Probe Society and Golden Probe Honor Society

IU School of Medicine’s POCUS Probe and Golden Probe Societies encourage self-directed POCUS education and training beyond the classroom. The groups are sponsored by the POCUS program and provide recognition of students who go “above and beyond” what is required in the curriculum. They also include opportunities to train and mentor emerging POCUS leaders within IU School of Medicine. Beginning in 2024, the societies are only open to IU School of Medicine medical students. They will be opened to residents, fellows and faculty in the future.

POCUS Probe Society

The POCUS Probe Society is an introductory club-like group where membership criteria are easily within reach and enrollment is ongoing. Requirements are easily obtainable, but require additional work alongside the curriculum.

Becoming a Member: POCUS Probe Society applicants must be IU School of Medicine students and meet the membership criteria listed below. Once they have completed the criteria, applicants must complete a short application to attest they have met all the requirements. The POCUS program manager will verify that applicants have met criteria and inform them of their successful acceptance into the society. Students who complete the summer POCUS program be will automatically enrolled in the POCUS Probe Society.

Apply for the POCUS Probe Society

Golden Probe Honor Society

The Golden Probe Honor Society is a more prestigious honor society for IU School of Medicine medical students whose purpose is to develop future POCUS leaders. It has more rigorous requirements and greater responsibilities for membership. Membership is awarded if criteria are met in four key domains. Membership to the Golden Probe Honor Society is awarded annually in May.

Becoming a Member: Beginning in 2024, only medical students are eligible to apply. Applicants must complete an application that will be verified by the POCUS program manager and reviewed by POCUS leadership. Residents, fellows, and faculty at IU School of Medicine will be eligible in the future.   

Apply for the Golden Probe Society 

Summer Training Program

Since its inception in 2021, more than 100 rising second year medical students have developed their POCUS skills during the school’s summer training program. The two-week program allows students to become comfortable with POCUS and later serve as peer educators for students and faculty at training events. The students also become POCUS champions as the school continues to expand the use of POCUS in the educational program.

Under the guidance of faculty and senior sonography students, students learn how to use POCUS in a variety of clinical specialties and spend 16-24 hours practicing on standardized patients or simulators. They also receive POCUS devices that offer time to practice outside of the classroom. The program has been funded through the school’s United States Health Resources Administration PRIME grant and IU Health Values grants.

IU School of Medicine is one of only three schools with shared POCUS curriculum in its residency programs. Ten programs offer training for residents and fellows, including emergency medicine, internal medicine, family medicine, medicine-pediatrics, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, nephrology and critical care.

Training modules developed by IU School of Medicine POCUS experts are also available to every residency program. Each module includes a pre- and post-module knowledge assessment. Residency programs select pertinent modules to customize their training to meet their specialty’s needs.

IU School of Medicine has a robust POCUS training program on all nine campuses. Nearly 1,050 POCUS devices and tablets, including mini tablets, are distributed statewide. Because POCUS is so portable, training can take place just about anywhere.

• State of the art simulation phantoms that approximate real patients allow learners to experience a wide variety of pathological conditions.
• In-person learning opportunities occur in hands-on scanning labs and simulation centers at all nine campuses, and are facilitated by POCUS expert physicians, sonographers, residents and students.
• Sonographers are available to go to clinical settings, classrooms or conference rooms to provide education to busy faculty.

Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) connects local primary care teams with inter-disciplinary specialists to spread knowledge and amplify local capacity to provide best practice care for complex chronic health conditions. It is primarily focused on rural and traditionally underserved populations. This low-cost, high-impact intervention is achieved by leveraging technology to connect expert mentors and multiple local primary care providers in online video-conferencing teleECHO clinics.

During POCUS ECHO, a panel of experts who constitute the ECHO “hub team” facilitate brief didactics and de-identified patient cases presented by participants. Students and established providers receive support and recommendations from their peers while learning how to comprehensively apply POCUS skills.

The program is free and open to all providers, including physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, nurses, social workers, case managers, sonographers and patient navigators.

POCUS ECHO meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET via Zoom.