To get the most out of the fellowship, we strongly recommend each fellow acquire a personal 'all in one' probe. This enables fellows to scan anywhere, anytime with a full probe and feature set.

Hospital or clinic provided machines may not have a full set of basic probes (i.e. curvilinear, linear & phased), and often do not have all software packages unlocked (e.g. pulsed wave doppler or maternity measurements etc.) If a probe or machine breaks, there are usually considerable delays associated with repair or replacement that are beyond the fellow's control. These delays have had a significant impact on past fellows' education. Also, hospital machines tend to be larger and it can be difficult or forbidden to take them to another care area on another floor, let alone a different building or the fellow's home for practice.

Exporting recorded clips from a cart-based machine is more involved and less intuitive, leading to delays and extra work. Some institutions add additional security measures or hurdles affecting the downloading of clips. On the other hand, personal probes permit fellows to share and post directly into the fellowship forums for immediate discussion & feedback.

Nevertheless, the RUF views access to cart-based machines as a major asset for several reasons. First, cart-based machines currently still offer superior resolution; an incredibly valuable asset later in the fellowship process. Second, the opportunity to learn across multiple hardware systems, which further reinforces knobology and physics concepts through learning how various manufactures choose to implement features differently.

Ultimately we view access to hospital-provided systems as an augmentation to the fellowship, not a default option to be relied upon.

If any doubt remains as to the value of a personal probe, remember it is always an option to sell a personal probe once the fellowship is complete. That said, to date, not one of our fellows has opted to do so, citing the [surprising], value of owning one's own personal probe.