Man’s Best Friend Adds Special Touch to Patient Care

More and more critical care nurses are bringing specially trained animals into hospitals and long-term care facilities to assist in rehabilitating patients.

“Alternate therapy is being accepted in the hospital,” said Katherine Connor, intensive care unit nurse and long-time animal enthusiast based in South Fort Worth, Texas, at yesterday’s session “Paws Forward: Utilizing and Researching Animal Assisted Therapy.” One of the most effective of these alternative therapies involves cats and dogs.

In addition to being a nurse, Connor also participates in dog shows and has enrolled her own dogs in an animal therapy program called Therapet.

There is nothing quite like the human-animal bond, Connor said. During long hospital stays, patients often feel isolated. Bringing a dog or cat into the hospital setting gives patients something to look forward to, which can work as a motivating factor in reaching rehabilitation goals. Patients and nurses can also bond over a shared affection for animals, which can relax the patient and help make the hospital environment less threatening.

Research has shown that the presence of an animal in a hospital room can help improve a patient’s psychological state, heart rate, pain perception and loneliness. However, Connor said researchers need to delve more deeply into the effects of zoonosis, or infectious diseases transmitted to humans by animals.

Animal Assisted Intervention

Animal Assisted Intervention programs come in two forms: Animal Assisted Activity programs and Animal Assisted Therapy programs.

Animal Assisted Activity programs involve visitation and interaction in adult care facilities, hospice care and pediatric clinics. Many patients are comforted by the presence of an animal and the unmistakable feeling of unconditional love. Some programs even allow personal pets to be brought in to see their owners.

“It just means so much for you to be able to see your own animal,” Connor said.

Animal Assisted Therapy programs are more goal-directed. “We are just using the animal as a tool to motivate patients,” Connor said.

Dogs can help patients increase their range of motion and balance. They can be used in speech rehabilitation and memory loss tasks. Patients are simply more motivated to stretch their arms or form words when a dog will reward them with a response, she said.

Preparation and protocols

Despite increasing acceptance, many institutions are still resistant to the idea of allowing animals into a hospital environment.

Before proposing an Animal Assisted Intervention program in a facility, “we need to make sure our ducks are in a row,” Connor said. She recommended approaching an administrator who likes animals and stressing the marketing value and low cost of implementation.

Most importantly, have an outline of policies available, she said. Procedures should address animal training requirements, because therapy dogs must be trained according to medical standards so that they pose no risk to patients. The most important traits are reliability, predictability, controllability and suitability.

“Your program is only as good as your temperament test,” Connor said, stressing that temperament is much more important than breed when it comes to dogs.

Programs should require immunization records from the animals and their owners, as well as background checks and a stated commitment to a certain number of visits per year.

Another concern is infection control. Programs should have clear policies as to which patients can see the animals and which are restricted, Connor said. Specifically, some high-risk patients with compromised immune systems are restricted from Animal Assisted Intervention programs.