Survey using a Questionnaire on Pharmacists’ Perceptions about Placebo Use in Clinical Practice in Three Hospitals

Abstract

Placebo is commonly used in clinical trials but it is also used in clinical practice. However, it is difficult to get informed consent for the placebo use from patients in clinical practice. Thus, placebo use in such occasion can lead to an ethical problem. We have previously reported the current use of placebo and the psychological conflict of doctors and nurses about the use of placebo treatments in the actual medical settings. However, to date, no study has reported the perception of pharmacists, some of whom prepare and explain the use of placebo medicines to patients, as their medication. We conducted a survey of the current use of placebo in clinical practice and the perception of pharmacists regarding its use in 3 hospitals based on anonymous self-report questionnaire as a pilot study prior to a nationwide survey. We administered the questionnaire to 92 pharmacists belonging to 3 hospital pharmacies between July 2 and 24, 2012. Of the 92 pharmacists, 84 (91.3%) returned the questionnaire, then we analyzed the data by descriptive statistics and a contingency table. Our results showed that 54.8% of the pharmacists had experience of placebo use in medical settings, and 9.9% of them had instructed on the use of placebo ; while 43.2% of them (answered that they feel uncomfortable with the use of placebos in clinical settings) tended to feel antipathy toward the use of placebos in clinical practice. While the use of placebos in medical setting may have a potential ethical issue, 66.7% of the pharmacists considered that placebo use in clinical settings is not necessarily unethical. Pharmacists who had previously discussed this issue with other staff thought that placebo use in clinical practice is unethical (p＝0.009).