Image source: pharmphorum.com

For thousands of years, people have been going to doctors to seek treatment for their ailments. And as early as 3,500 years ago, the Egyptians have been keeping written descriptions of medical treatments. It is believed that even before that, shamans and healers were already treating ill and injured patients with natural remedies. Margaret L. Salmon.

Over the recent decades, doctors and researchers found out that past remedies were doing more harm than good to patients. For instance, prescribing tobacco to treat asthma proved to be one of the biggest mistakes that doctors made in the 20th century. And there are various reasons for physicians to prescribe ineffective remedies. In the past, people would instead do something about their illness than nothing at all. It caused them to look for remedies that have not been tested. Margaret L. Salmon.

Image source: medicalnewstoday.com

The placebo effect may be the culprit for some cases. For some people, the belief in the power of treatment often makes them feel better. Doctors learn what works and what doesn’t by performing accurate scientific diagnoses, which then help them evaluate the treatments they give to patients. Medical trials done to a large number of people or sample size can help doctors determine the effectivity of the treatment. Margaret L. Salmon.

The science of medicine requires more than just belief in a treatment as established by the principle behind medical trials. In determining effective treatments, several factors must be eliminated. These factors are eliminated by blinding, a method used to prevent the issues of the placebo effect, and double blinding is one step further . Margaret L. Salmon.