June 16, 2025

Transforming Combat Casualty Care Training: Generative AI-Enabled Adaptive Learning in Forward Medical Settings

Authors:
Alan D. Koenig, John J. Lee, Eric Savitsky, Gabriele Nataneli, Karson Lindstrom, David L. Schriger, and Tyler Savitsky
The urgent need to train military and civilian responders in combat casualty care during large-scale operations presents challenges due to the variability of learner preparedness and the resource demands of traditional curriculum development. This study examines the application of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in authoring and evaluating multiple-choice question-and-answer (QA) sets for medical training, with a specific focus on far-forward combat environments. Leveraging OpenAI’s latest large language models (LLMs)—including GPT-4 (Open AI, 2023), GPT-4o (OpenAI, 2024a), o1, (OpenAI, 2024c) and o1-mini (OpenAI, 2024d)—the study compares AI-generated QA sets to those created by a seasoned human subject matter expert (SME), using National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) guidelines as the benchmark. Results show that GPT-4o produced high-quality QA sets in 86.6% of cases, while inter-rater agreement between human and AI raters was strong (Krippendorff’s α = 0.85; Gwet’s AC2 = 0.96). The AI-generated QA sets were created with a 31-fold time savings and over 4,000-fold cost reduction relative to SME-authored items. Beyond performance metrics, the study introduces a replicable human-in-the-loop methodology for AI-assisted educational assessment design, striking a balance between scalability and pedagogical integrity. This framework provides a viable path for integrating LLMs into adaptive learning systems across various domains, while emphasizing the continued need for expert oversight to ensure contextual fidelity, instructional relevance, and quality assurance.
Koenig, A. D., Lee, J. J., Savitsky, E., Nataneli, G., Lindstrom, K., Schriger, D. L., and Savitsky, T. (2025). Transforming combat casualty care training: Generative AI-enabled adaptive learning in forward medical settings. [White paper]. UCLA/CRESST
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