Animal Cuddles at the Hospital? Yes Please!

Bridgid Joseph, BSN, MSN, APRN, CNS

There have been lots of articles about animals at Nursing Homes and long-term care facilities, but there isn't a lot out there about animals brought to the in-patient setting. Animals are almost always allowed when they are working service animals, which are animals trained to perform a specific duty task for a person in need of assistance (like a seeing eye dog, seizure alert dogs, etc.) as part of maintaining Americans with Disabilities (ADA) requirements. However allowing therapy pets, is a little more controversial.

Therapy pets are personal pets that, along with their owners, provide supervised goal-directed interventions to patients in hospital. Usually therapy animals are required to have some sort of certification showing that they are non-aggressive and able to consistently follow simple commands. The American Kennel Club offers a Canine Good Citizen (CGC) exam that more than covers these requirements, including the dog's responses to people in wheelchairs and on crutches, and is usually a requirement for a therapy pet. It's a pretty good requirement to know that animals coming into the hospital to visit ill patients won't be aggressive to staff, patients, etc. right? On a personal note, my dogs both passed the CGC as they are therapy animals, but the biggest hurdle for one of them was people in wheelchairs; he absolutely would lose his mind with anyone on wheels (i.e. skateboards, rollerblades, and wheelchairs) which was not only embarrassing, but a lot of work to correct!

When our hospital first started offering therapy pet visits, I heard some staff concerned about the 'diseases' that animals might bring to their already sick patients. My first thought was, let's not forget that hospitals are filled with a lot of germs, despite insane amounts of cleaning! That being said, there are 39 diseases that are known as zoonosis diseases, in that they spread from animal to humans, however the transmission is infrequent with most diseases now due to vaccines and preventative care for animals. Some of the most well known are rabies and roundworm, however all dogs that work as therapy animals must have their vaccinations for rabies and be on preventative monthly treatment for parasites (such as worms), and there are a lot of rules in place by hospitals to make sure that pets are only in places that they should be in hospitals.

One big rule? Pets can only visit with patients who are interested in seeing them. So, people are not just walking around with their animals and going room to room. Patients are made aware when pet therapy visiting hours are, well in advance, and they are allowed to request or decline a visit. Sometimes the dogs are brought to the solarium/family room to allow for group visits for patients who are ambulatory, but for those who are bed bound, or with limited mobility, the dogs are brought right to their rooms.

Also, the therapy pets are not allowed to visit patients on neutropenic precautions, or patients who are severely immunocompromised, and they are not allowed in the PACU, ORs, Critical Care Units, Labor and Delivery, and other procedural areas where sterility is maintained. in addition, staff who come in contact with the animals, who should be groomed the day of their visit, are required to wash their hands both before and after touching the animals, if they choose to do so. Patients are also encouraged to wash their hands (or use sanitizer) before and after contact, and it is offered to them via the human handler of the dogs. Between good hand hygiene, and preventative healthcare requirements for the animals, most zoonosis diseases are removed as a risk for patients.

When you see the faces of visitors, staff, and patients as the animals walk onto the unit, or walk throughout the halls of the medical center, there is no thought of transmittable disease, because people's faces light up and they are so excited to have a furry visitor. Whether you are an animal person, or not, and whether you think that therapy dogs help, or not, the energy and happiness that follows these furry friends around the hospital is amazing, and I like to think that a visit from these uplifting creatures helps to heal these patients and get home sooner! Have you ever had experience with therapy animals in your hospital? Do you wish that your hospital had this program? I couldn't imagine not having this option for patients, after seeing patients responses.

Animal Cuddles at the Hospital? Yes Please!

About Bridgid Joseph, BSN, MSN, APRN, CNS

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