The Residency Assistance Program in family practice.

The Residency Assistance Program in family practice was inaugurated in September 1975 as a plan to mobilize and finance the matching of consultant expertise in family practice residency education with program directors desiring to improve the quality of their residency programs through consultative assistance. The Residency Assistance Program is administered by a Project Board composed of representatives of four national family practice organizations. A panel of 30 consultants, carefully selected by the Project Board, are prepared for rendering effective consultative services through intensive training in consultative skills. They operate under the guidance of concensually developed standards for quality graduate education in family practice. Consultations are only scheduled at the written request of a residency program director. The confidential, nonpunitive, and voluntary nature of a Residency Assistancy Program consultation is carefully guarded, because it is felt that these qualities enhance the information-sharing, collaborative problem-solving nature of the consultative process. This paper describes the development, features, and operational process of this Program.