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A new study has found that dogs can help ease the suffering of patients experiencing pain in the emergency room.
The study collected data from more than 200 emergency room patients at The Royal University Hospital Emergency Department in Saskatchewan, Canada, which was chosen for its “longstanding visiting therapy dog program,” according to the study.
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The treatment group reported less pain after visiting with the dogs.
“Participants in the therapy dog team group rated pain significantly lower than those in the control group at the post-intervention measurement,” the study noted.
Jessica Chubak, senior investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, toldCNNin an email that “the results of the study are promising.”
Clark, who did not conduct the study, explained, “Our current understanding of the effects of therapy dog visits in emergency department settings is fairly limited. So, it is particularly important to have more research in this area.”
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Colleen Dell, the lead study author and the research chair in One Health and Wellness and professor at the University of Saskatchewan, told CNN, “There is research showing that pets are an important part of our health in different ways. They motivate us, they get us up, (give us) routines, the human-animal bond.”
Dell added that she hopes the results of the study push people to stop questioning if therapy dogs are helpful, and instead start asking how to incorporate them better into our healthcare systems.
source: people.com
