Pragmatic randomized clinical trial

A pragmatic randomized clinical trial (pragmatic RCT) is an interventional study that tests whether a treatment works under routine clinical conditions, as opposed to the tightly controlled setting of an explanatory trial. It prioritizes broad eligibility, flexible delivery, and patient-relevant outcomes to answer the question 'Does this treatment work in everyday practice?' rather than 'Can this treatment work under ideal circumstances?' The distinction between pragmatic and explanatory trials was formally articulated by Schwartz and Lellouch in 1967 and operationalized by the PRECIS tool in 2009.