Pawsitive Impacts of Therapy Dog Visits

Pain Clinical Trial

Official title:

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

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04727749
• Other study ID #: 1253
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 7, 2019
• Est. completion date: September 20, 2019

Study information

• Verified date: October 2021
• Source: University of Saskatchewan
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial 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.

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 211
• Est. completion date: September 20, 2019
• Est. primary completion date: September 20, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Over the age of 18

• Able to provide consent

• Attending the Emergency Department because of pain/discomfort

• Canadian Triage and Acuity Score (CTAS) of 2-5

• Willing to visit with a therapy dog team (intervention group only)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pain medications (specifically immediate release acetaminophen and opioid analgesics) within an hour prior to the visit

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

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

Intervention

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.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	Royal University Hospital	Saskatoon	Saskatchewan

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Saskatchewan	Royal University Hospital Foundation

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Pain Scores	Participants Stratified by Pain scores Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes, Pain Scores at 20 Minutes Post Visit.	20 minutes post visit
Primary	Change in Pain Score	Pain score using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes.	Baseline visit compared to 20 minutes post-visit
Secondary	Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Anxiety Scores	Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes, Anxiety Scores at 20 Minutes Post Visit	20 minutes post-visit
Secondary	Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Depression Scores	Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes, Depression Scores at 20 Minutes Post Visit	20 minutes post-visit
Secondary	Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Well-Being Scores	Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes, Well-being Scores at 20 Minutes Post Visit.	20 minutes post-visit
Secondary	Change in Blood Pressure	Mean arterial blood pressure using a blood pressure cuff	20 minutes post-visit
Secondary	Change in Heart Rate	Radial pulse	20 minutes post-visit