Family medicine resident research: how about an N of 1 trial?

Encouraging family-practice residents to undertake a research project should be a mandate of every Department of Family Medicine. In order to have an effective resident research program, time, expertise, funding and ideas are needed. An N of 1 randomized trial is one study design that may be attractive to family-medicine residents as a methodology from which to learn basic concepts of research. This paper provides a background description of single-patient trials and their use in resident research.