Therapy Dogs Can Help Ease Pain in the Emergency Room – Everyday Health

A 10-minute visit with a canine companion reduced stress and suffering.
Just 10 minutes with a therapy dog helped reduce pain, anxiety, and depression for patients in the emergency department, according to a new study.
The research, published March 9 in the journal PLoS One, found that emergency department patients who received an animal therapy session reported a reduction in pain and improved well-being compared with people who didn’t.
“Other studies have shown the benefits of therapy dogs visiting in a hospital environment, but this is one of the only ones focusing on therapy dog teams in an emergency department, and the only clinical controlled trial that we are aware of to focus on patient pain in the emergency department,” says coauthor Colleen Dell, PhD, professor and researcher at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada.
For people who are receiving care in a hospital setting, getting a visit from a therapy dog has been shown to have a lot of benefits with no downside — provided you like dogs. Not only can interacting with one of these trained pooches lower anxiety, it can also lower blood pressure and reduce overall physical pain, according to UCLA Health.
With the goal of quantifying how a dog therapy visit could impact pain and other health measures in emergency department patients, researchers analyzed the visits of 198 participants: 97 people in the therapy group, and 101 people in the control group.
Individuals in the therapy group participated in 10-minute visits at the Royal University Hospital (RUH) emergency department in Saskatoon, the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
Each patient’s pain, anxiety, depression, and well-being were measured using a standardized and established 11-point scale, before, immediately following, and 20 minutes after each visit. Blood pressure and heart rate were also recorded. Control data was gathered twice, 30 minutes apart for comparison.
Forty-eight percent of patients who visited with a therapy dog in the emergency department saw a reduction in anxiety, 43 percent reported a reduction for pain, 46 percent experienced less depression and 41 percent reported improved well-being. There were no differences in heart rate or blood pressure after the visit.
These improvements are meaningful, in part because emergency departments can be very stressful places for patients — in some cases, making for one of the worst days of their life, says Dr. Dell.
“Considering these findings, and that therapy dogs can be part of the care team for individuals, it’s really important for our healthcare systems to consider offering this to patients,” she says.
That being said, health systems need to use an approach where it’s not just the patients who benefit, says Dell. “The therapy dogs and their handlers should be integrated as a part of the care team, and dogs are not identified as strictly a benefit for human wellness. They need to get something from this volunteer role in the community, too.”
If you want to access dog therapy in your healthcare system, Dell suggests an internet search or phone call as a first step. “See if there are any hospitals in your state or province that already offer therapy dog visiting, and the therapy dog organizations that they are connected with,” she says.
If you or someone you love is in the hospital, a provider may offer the animal-assisted therapy program, or you could request a visit. If a therapy dog and its handler are available, they visit your hospital room; a typical interaction lasts about 10 to 15 minutes, according to Mayo Clinic. You can pet and interact with the dog and chat with the handler during the session.
Dogs of any age or breed can be a therapy dog, provided they are at least one-year old, according to the American Kennel Club. If your dog is obedient and likes to be around people, they may make a good candidate.
If your local healthcare system has a dog therapy program, contact them about any needed certifications or trainings. In many cases, you can train your dog (there are YouTube videos available to help you get started) to pass any tests that might be required.
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