People Therapeutic Pet Visits in Child Psychiatry The Child Inpatient Psychiatry Unit (PG4) serves patients between 5 and 12 years old with behavioral challenges such as impulsivity, mood regulation, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. Many of these children are exposed to violence at home, presenting signs of fear and anxiety. Animals have the potential to be perceived as less threatening, allowing these children to become aware of their feelings and develop a sense of self. Pet therapy, which is valuable throughout the hospital, is especially helpful for the children the staff on this unit serves. Throughout history, animal companionship has been used as a source of comfort and as a mechanism to relieve suffering. Health care professionals have studied the impact pet therapy has on an individual’s emotional well-being and quality of life. Additionally, pet therapy has been used in clinical programs to treat social or emotional difficulties and communication disorders. The physical stimulation associated in animalassisted therapy provides individuals with increased pleasure that encourages relaxation and promotes a positive well-being. Pet therapy finds positive uses with all ages, but is particularly useful with children and the elderly. The staff on P4G is no stranger to the use of pet therapy in increasing emotional welfare of their patients. Unfortunately, due to infection control concerns, the program was stopped many years ago. In June 2012, Kim Sadtler, MSN, RN, CNSBC, Nurse Manager for Inpatient Child Psychiatry, and staff nurse Denise O’Donnell, RN, CNII, began talking about resurrecting the program. UMMC policy does have a pet visitation policy, provided the animal is the personal pet of a patient in the facility. After navigating the legalities and creating patient consent forms,
the nursing staff of P4G reached out to the Pets on Wheels (POW) program, a non-profit volunteer organization providing friendly visits to patients in hospitals, nursing homes and institutional settings since the 1980s. The staff of P4G implemented bi-weekly one-hour visits with Cassie, a rescue greyhound, in August 2012. During these sessions, without prompting from staff, children encourage each other to meet Cassie while helping those who are afraid ease closer to Cassie, until they are fully engaged in participation. Nursing staff on P4G report that after these sessions, the children exhibit less aggression and disruptive behaviors, increase their attention span, and have more positive peer interactions. Encouraged by their early results, the P4G staff intends to continue the pet therapy program with their patients. Plans are to incorporate Birdie, one of POW’s newest therapy dogs, as well as secure pet visits for the other weekends per month. The nursing staff is also investigating ways to objectively measure the benefits of pet therapy application in the clinical setting.
UMMC’s pet therapy program has shown benefits to people of all ages.
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2013 UMMC N ur sin g A n n ua l R ep ort