06Research and Evaluation

An evaluation designedto be believed.

No single proponent can legitimately establish a clinical standard. The evaluation is independent by design, and it publishes null and negative findings alongside favorable ones.

Evaluation design

Prospective, prespecified, independently controlled.

At minimum, the pilot uses a prospective pre/post design with repeated measures, blinded or independent scoring where feasible, and a prespecified analysis plan. If enough agencies participate, a phased or stepped-wedge rollout strengthens inference by allowing later-starting groups to serve as temporary comparators. The independent evaluator — not the program — controls the analysis and reports the limitations.

The primary endpoint is an observable readiness measure directly affected by training, such as time to effective hemorrhage control in a standardized scenario, rather than mortality. Secondary endpoints address coordination, retention, data quality, and implementation feasibility. Patient outcomes may be explored only when legal authority, data quality, sample size, and ethics review support it.

Tactical medical kit detailPrimary endpoint · Hemorrhage-control interval
Predefined success conditions

Success is defined before data collection begins.

Conditions that must hold

  • All participating institutions sign governance, medical-direction, data-use, and exercise agreements before training begins.
  • The crosswalk conflicts with no controlling law, scope of practice, medical direction, or current agency protocol.
  • Primary measures demonstrate acceptable inter-rater reliability and data completeness before any outcome comparison.
  • At least one prespecified primary readiness endpoint improves measurably, with no deterioration in safety endpoints.

Conditions on what happens next

  • Retention testing determines whether gains persist; recertification intervals are set to measured decay, not assumed decay.
  • Independent evaluation finds the package feasible and states the conditions required for replication.
  • No expansion occurs solely because the pilot was completed. Expansion follows the evidence or does not happen.
Limitations

Stated directly, not implied away.

T-EMRP has not demonstrated reliability across sites, persistence of training gains, cost-effectiveness, acceptability to U.S. agencies, or any effect on patient outcomes. A pilot sample may be too small for mortality analysis. Local law, scope of practice, labor rules, records law, and medical direction vary by jurisdiction. Any composite readiness index remains a hypothesis until construct validity, weighting, sensitivity, and fairness are demonstrated.

Publication commitment

The evaluation publishes positive, negative, and null findings. A partner institution should hold the program to this commitment.

Future research agenda

Sequential by design.

01Establish measure reliability
02Quantify skill retention
03Test whether joint exercises improve interagency performance
04Evaluate rural adaptations
05Assess implementation cost
06Investigate appropriately governed links between readiness and clinical outcomes