Animal assisted therpay and nursing

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Hi. I am working on a second paper for nursing school concerning research and assisted animal therapy. Is there a part of nursing that deals with this?? It sounds very interesting and I love animals. I would like to know if there is a element of nursing out there that deals with this. I'd love to do it!! :)

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We have two dogs at my foster home and our pts just love em! They would spend all day with those dogs if you let them, so I see the benefit to pet therapy.

I know that there are therapy dogs that they bring into the hospitals. I've never heard of anything like that being speficially tied to nursing. I guess you could start up a program like that if you really enjoyed animals. Don't limit yourself in nursing if you have an interest you can always try to intergrate it. That's one of the best things about nursing, the variety of things you can do as an RN.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

Well I'm an animal lover, daschund, maltese and rat terrier in our family. But My daschund is an absolute people lover, the LAP dog, all the shots, but my hospital won't allow it, have the maltese, all the shots, grooming, but my hospital won't allow it and the Maltese is a THERAPY dog, while still young at a year she is great, the Daschund is the cats ass with loving.

My hospital won't allow it. Now, if an end stage patient with a small dog is in my ICU... I realy encourage a carry on bag, (we use an airliner approved, which looks like a purse), and tell them to sneak it in!!!!!!!

I'll beg forgiveness first, ask permission later.... all about the patient.

be warned, acting like me, puts you in the office, with a really dumb look on your face that you have to carry through.... dumb, equals verbal discipline... worth it every time.... and yep it does add up!

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Well this is not really a "therapy" per say but we have a cat who lives on our Alzheimers Unit and a dog we saved from the Humane Society that lives on our skilled unit. We have a couple of ladies who when they are sick he always stays in their room with them because they want him right by their side. They ask where he is and we go get him for them. They love the animals that we have here. And so do the families. Clyde (our dog) is so spoiled it is not funny.

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Specializes in SICU/CVICU.

I just tried to post a link to a good article on this, but it won't work ! :(

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Specializes in ICU, SDU, OR, RR, Ortho, Hospice RN.

I was able to take my Siberian puppy into hospital when I worked back in Tasmania. I took him to see a little 4 year old that I was looking after in the step down unit. She had been such a sick little girl but after seeing my pup, that is all she talked about for days! He used to lay on the pillow of some of my patients that were dying and they loved that so much. They would pat him and just snuggle up with him.

We have had ventilated pts have their cats or 'little' dogs be able to snuggle with them for a while.

Was amazing to see the vitals settle. Blood pressures would come down and heart rates would steady. We would place the ventilated pts hand on their pets.

I believe our ICU was very proactive in trying different modalities to assist in patient care.

We used a lot of aroma therapy too. Different scents at different times of the day but night time was lavender and rosemary. A very calming atmosphere.

We did massages too. Anything that can enhance the patient's stay and get them moving out the door in a postive way LOL Was a good thing. :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Wow, that is a really interesting subject. I am an animal lover myself, and have 2 dachshunds (my babies!). I really think animals (especially dogs) can be great therapy for anyone, even if you are not ill. Cool topic, and I would be interested to find out how your paper goes!

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The Delta Society (http://www.deltasociety.org/) is one of the main organizations for this. Therapy Dogs International (http://www.tdi-dog.org/) is another. I know several people who volunteer with their dogs.

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Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.
I was able to take my Siberian puppy into hospital when I worked back in Tasmania. I took him to see a little 4 year old that I was looking after in the step down unit. She had been such a sick little girl but after seeing my pup, that is all she talked about for days! He used to lay on the pillow of some of my patients that were dying and they loved that so much. They would pat him and just snuggle up with him.

We have had ventilated pts have their cats or 'little' dogs be able to snuggle with them for a while.

Was amazing to see the vitals settle. Blood pressures would come down and heart rates would steady. We would place the ventilated pts hand on their pets.

I believe our ICU was very proactive in trying different modalities to assist in patient care.

We used a lot of aroma therapy too. Different scents at different times of the day but night time was lavender and rosemary. A very calming atmosphere.

We did massages too. Anything that can enhance the patient's stay and get them moving out the door in a postive way LOL Was a good thing. :)

Which hospital was that in Tassie?

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Specializes in ICU, SDU, OR, RR, Ortho, Hospice RN.
Which hospital was that in Tassie?

Calvary Hospital in Hobart Dar... Called Calvary Healthcare now. :)

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