Clinical trial NCT04727749: Pawsitive Impacts of Therapy Dog Visits
Official title: A Study of the Pawsitive Impacts of Therapy Dog Visits With Adult Emergency Department Pain Patients
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Pain
Pain, Acute
Pain, Chronic
Pain, Intractable
Keywords: Pain
Emergency Department
Therapy Dog
Lead sponsor: University of Saskatchewan
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Royal University Hospital Foundation
First posted: 2021-01-27
Enrollment: 211
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Data is to be collected 5 days a week, with animal testing days alternating with control days.
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief 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.

Eligibility criteria: 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

Primary outcomes:
measure: Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Pain Scores
timeFrame: 20 minutes post visit
measure: Change in Pain Score
timeFrame: Baseline visit compared to 20 minutes post-visit
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Anxiety Scores
timeFrame: 20 minutes post-visit
measure: Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Depression Scores
timeFrame: 20 minutes post-visit
measure: Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Well-Being Scores
timeFrame: 20 minutes post-visit
measure: Change in Blood Pressure
timeFrame: 20 minutes post-visit
measure: Change in Heart Rate
timeFrame: 20 minutes post-visit
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Saskatoon
country: Canada
facility: Royal University Hospital
state: Saskatchewan
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Saskatchewan
name: Colleen Dell
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Carey B, Dell CA, Stempien J, Tupper S, Rohr B, Carr E, Cruz M, Acoose S, Butt P, Broberg L, Collard L, Fele-Slaferek L, Fornssler C, Goodridge D, Gunderson J, McKenzie H, Rubin J, Shand J, Smith J, Trask J, Ukrainetz K, Meier S. Outcomes of a controlled trial with visiting therapy dog teams on pain in adults in an emergency department. PLoS One. 2022 Mar 9;17(3):e0262599. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262599. eCollection 2022.