how is double blind testing used in medicine?

Answer 1

Double blind testing occurs when some subjects are given a drug, while others are given a non-active substance (a placebo) for comparison. Subjects don't know which they have been given.

In a double blind, the experimenters don't know who has been given which either, until the end of the trial when all results are collected.

Answer 2

A double blind randomised trial is the gold standard in medical research.

The basically means that the patients taking part in the trial and randomly assigned to a category, this may be to recieve no treatment, the current treatment, or any number of novel treatments being tested.

The double blind part of this refers to the fact that neither the participants or the researchers both giving the treatment and recording the results know whihc treatment is being given.
This is undertaken to avoid the 'placebo effect' from the patients, in that they feel beter, worse or no different depending on the treatment they know they are recieving. Also, researcher bias is excluded.

The problems with this aproach are obvious. If a tablet is to be compared to a liquid, or to a radiation treatment, then the patient will know what they are getting, even if the researcher is not. Also th ethics that we face today means that unless there is no current treatment, therapies cannot be compared to no therapy, only the surrent one.

Answer 3

There are two test groups of patients and one test group gets the medicine and one test group gets a placebo (fake medicine, usually a sugar pill) One set of pills is group A, the other is Group B. Neither the doctor administering the medicine, or researcher conducting the experiment as the case may be knows if group A is the real medicine or if group B is the real medicine. The person taking the medication does not know if they got the real medicine or the fake medicine either. Then they look to see if any of the patients in either group show any of the expected results.
This is supposed to keep both the researcher and the patient from finding imaginary results.

Answer 4

If you are testing a medication for headaches, and you want to avoid the effect of just giving someone something making them feel better you use the double blind system with a sugar pill or placebo for those not getting the real medication. Also if you want to avoid the effect of the doctor saying "you feel better dont you", or just wanting to feel better and wanting to please the doctor, you dont tell the doctor which is which ether. In that way no one can effect the results.It is double blind because it is all done by coded numbers and no one knows the real medication.

Answer 5

Double blind is when neither the patient nor the physician is aware of which medication is given (active drug or placebo). This makes sure there is absolutely no chance of the physician's opinion being influenced & also of the patient doing better because they are psychologically influenced - mind over matter makes a big difference.

Answer 6

It is used for testing. Both recipient and donor do not know
if is placebo or the real thing. This is to avoid the nurse or
scientist/doctor from mentally suggesting the pill that is
being given. It is a sensible thing to do as many have the
mental power to transmit information unintentionally.

Answer 7

The people doing the administration of the test have no idea which subjects are getting the control/placebo or the new drug, so that even subtle, non-verbal messages or expectations are not transmitted.