About SOAR
What is SOAR?
Preparing family medicine physicians to meet the needs of their patients is a fundamental goal of residency training. Increasingly, stakeholders recognize that residency outcome measures must incorporate performance after residency to evaluate whether training goals are accomplished as graduates enter their practice. In the absence of a formal knowledge-sharing system, a wealth of experiential wisdom is siloed rather than shared between program leaders. So, we might ask:
- In what novel ways can program leaders measure and take pride in describing their program’s strengths and outcomes?
- How can programs whose alumni consistently perform well in one or more areas of family medicine practice share with other programs how to prepare their residents for the same?
Strengthening Family Medicine Through Shared Excellence
SOAR (Strengthening Outcomes and Assessment in Residency Education) is a collaborative Community of Practice connecting family medicine residency programs across the nation. Created through a partnership between AFMRD and the ABFM/ABFM Foundation, SOAR empowers programs to share successful strategies and elevate family medicine education collectively.
Our Purpose
Family medicine residency programs share a common goal: preparing physicians who excel in meeting patient needs. Yet historically, programs have had limited ways to measure post-graduation success and share effective training approaches. SOAR bridges this gap by:
• Highlighting innovative approaches to measuring program strengths and outcomes
• Creating pathways for programs with promising outcomes to share their successful training methods
• Building a community where experiential wisdom becomes collective knowledge
Our Approach
SOAR operates on a simple but powerful principle: within our community, successful family medicine residency programs and their leadership have developed effective strategies despite facing the same constraints as their peers. By uncovering and sharing these approaches, we elevate all family medicine residency education.
Our community is:
• Asset-based: Focusing on strengths and successful practices connected to GME outcomes
• Problem-solving: Addressing practical design challenges in family medicine residency education
• Community-driven: Engaging participants in meaningful conversations about residency design and GME outcomes
Join the Community
SOAR complements existing FM residency leadership forums where program directors and faculty already gather, adding a dimension focused specifically on outcomes-based residency design insights. Through SOAR, program leaders can explore new strategies, engage in educational scholarship, and contribute to innovations that will shape both future program requirements and the delivery of family medicine care.
Learn More About
SOAR Scholar Program
SOAR is sponsoring a visiting scholar program at the American Board of Family Medicine and AFMRD. Visiting scholars study the relationship between residency outcomes and education/care delivery/workforce development best practices of family medicine residencies.
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Studies Informing SOAR Design
We’ve built it on a strong foundation of research, drawing from a range of medical and behavioral studies. These studies guided everything from the program’s structure to how it supports recovery and resilience. We invite you to explore the list of studies that informed SOAR’s development.