NCT04727749

Pawsitive Impacts of Therapy Dog Visits

A Study of the Pawsitive Impacts of Therapy Dog Visits With Adult Emergency Department Pain Patients

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 211 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Saskatchewan · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this unique 18 month study is to better understand the experiences of pain patients in the Royal University Hospital (RUH) Emergency Department (ED), to create excellence in health care. The purpose is to measure the impact of visiting therapy dogs on reducing ED patient pain.

Detailed description

The goal of this unique 18 month study is to better understand the experiences of pain patients in the Royal University Hospital (RUH) Emergency Department (ED), to create excellence in health care. The purpose is to measure the impact of visiting therapy dogs on reducing ED patient pain. The background rationale is that pain is the primary reason individuals attend an ED, patient pain is generally not well managed in EDs, Saskatchewan EDs have among the longest wait times in the country, and anxiety associated with ED waiting can negatively impact patients' pain. Research suggests a therapy dog can change patients' perceptions of pain and its intensity and facilitate relaxation. The intervention will be examined for its impact on patients' sensory pain (i.e., physical pain severity), affective pain (i.e., emotional pain unpleasantness) and anxiety. It is important to find creative, low-cost ways to respond to patients attending the ED for pain. The primary objective of this study is to generate new health-related knowledge on the ED pain patient experience. The secondary objectives are to implement effective end-of-grant knowledge translation and dissemination strategies and undertake a successful model of collaborative, multidisciplinary research among researchers, patient advisors and system representatives, rooted in a One Health framework.

Conditions

• Pain
• Pain, Acute
• Pain, Chronic
• Pain, Intractable

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Therapy Dog Team Visit	For the intervention group, patient interacts with the therapy dog, handler shares information about the therapy dog, asks about patient's pets, and offers a trading card of the therapy dog at the conclusion of the visit.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-06-07
• Primary completion: 2019-09-20
• Completion: 2019-09-20
• First posted: 2021-01-27
• Last updated: 2021-11-05
• Results posted: 2021-11-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada