Placebo Use In Medicine Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay (Essay Sample)

Placebo use in medicine
By (student)
Placebo use in medicine
Institution affiliations
THE IMPACTS OF PLACEBO USE IN MEDICINE
Placebo is defined as a treatment or drug containing inactive ingredients, but have a therapeutic effect on the patient. These types of drugs resemble normal drugs but are made up of "inactive" substances which has no medical effect (American cancer society, 2015). Usually, a placebo is made up of sugar pills or saline injections. Placebos are mainly used in clinical trials by medical researchers when developing new medications. But the question whether they should be used outside clinical trials, and be implemented in medical management of patients in hospitals, is still a bone of contention to researchers.
Placebos cause a feeling of relief to the patient but they do not cure the actual diseases (Kaptchuk & Miller, 2015). This feeling of relief is defined as the "placebo effect", and it occurs as a result of patient's expectations after receiving treatment. In other words, the patient is given an inactive form of medication and he or she perceives how the drug will function