"Get Close, But Be Careful"

Hi guys!

Due to my schedule this week, I was unable to attend any visits. However, as I was looking through the book that was provided to us during the Pet workshop, I found a very interesting article regarding some of the misconceptions about animal disease transmission. Just to supply you all with some statistics, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) estimates that each year nearly 2 million patients in the U.S.get an infection in the hospitals. Out of those 2 million patients, 90,000 of them die as a result of their infection. So the question is...would it be safer for the patients if they were not exposed to animals during a time when patients are so susceptible to contracting a disease? The answer is no! According to Get Close, But Be Careful, "the benefits of interacting with animals far outweigh the small, easily preventable risks involved." To elaborate, Hand In Paw teams are required to meet certain criteria prior to a therapy visit, such as bathing the dog 24 hours prior to the visit, making sure the nails are cut, etc. Before they can begin any time of visit, however, they must provide a record of the dog's vaccinations. These interventions and many more are designed in order to dramatically decrease the risk of infection. As the article states, there are many transmittable diseases that people are capable of contracting from animals. However, when precautions such as the ones I described above plus more are implemented, the risk of a disease being transmitted from the animal to the patient is very small.
This article also makes the point that knowing the way in which diseases are transmitted helps in applying the prevention measures applicable to that particular disease. For example, animals may contaminate our environment IF they are "not properly cleaned up, shed hair or dander, haven't been cleaned or groomed properly, or are not well and are shedding bacteria and parasites." Hand In Paw ensures that the therapy dog is well, and of course has the proper grooming in order to prevent infection.

To sum everything up, the following is a closing quote from the article: "You are much more likely to catch something from another person than from an animal - and that shouldn't stop you from getting close to other people. Get close, but be careful!"   

Pawsitive Living!

Hello everyone,

So, this week, I got the opportunity to go to Glenwood Autism and Behavioral Health Services this past Thursday. This was part of the Pawsitive Living program at Hand In Paw. It is a 12-week, curriculum based program serving at-risk youth (group of 7-9 year old boys with behavioral problems). That Thursday marked the half-way point (week 6) of the 12-week program. Although this was my first visit and I had not witnessed where the boys were behavior wise when the visits first started, the responses that were given Thursday night by the boys seemed like improvements were definitely being made in the boys' behavior as well as their perspectives on certain situations. As the boys entered the room, it was obvious that a strong bond had already been established between them and the therapy teams. It never ceases to amaze me the look of pure joy that takes over upon laying eyes on the therapy animals. I have seen for myself on multiple occasions the way these animals and their handlers make a difference in people's lives.

The topic for the night was stereotyping. After going around the room and each of us saying something that someone called us that we didn't like, the boys were given a picture of a cat. The task was to write down things inside the cat that they could control, such as their feelings and emotions, and write down things outside the cat that they couldn't control, such as other people's actions. The portion of the night that the boys really seemed to enjoy was when they were given stickers with adjectives like ugly, cute, slow, fast, clumsy,etc. and their job was to go around and label the therapy dogs according to what they thought. What we found was that the boys had a really hard time putting bad labels on the dogs, such as ugly. The underlying message in this activity was that just because people may label you with bad words, this does not mean that those words define you. What a great way to convey a message!

Also, Thursday night was the first night that I went to a facility that had more than one team. There was a total of 7 teams in all. One thing that I would like to point out is the way in which the teams interacted with each other. They all acted like family...all of them unified under a common ground: helping others with their furry friends. As far as my infection control rubric, all of the teams carried out infection control as appropriate for the situation. I got to talk to two therapy teams, Carrie and Spice and Carol and Hannah, about their views of infection control. I did not get the chance to ask all of the questions that I would have liked to ask due to time constraints; however, I made sure I asked what Carrie and Carol believed were weaknesses. Both teams believed that proper hand washing was definitely a weakness, and Carrie also added that if developed, she would definitely be willing to attend a short focus-based infection class on that subject. Hopefully the next visit, I will be able to get more in depth infection control information and continue to accumulate valuable responses from the teams. Stay tuned..... {pictures below}

Some of the therapy teams

                                                                   

Carrie and Spice (poodle)

Carol and Hannah

                           

Infection Control Rubric

Hi everyone!

I was scheduled to go to Children's Hospital (Hematology/Oncology unit) this afternoon, but unfortunately a family emergency came up, and I was unable to attend. I was really looking forward to my first hospital visit with HIP, but I will have to wait patiently for another opportunity. On a great note, however, I have developed the infection control rubric that I plan to use to evaluate the HIP therapy teams. My infection control rubric consists of two parts. The first part is a checklist of basic infection control protocol, such as hand hygiene; proper grooming (bathe animal 24 hours prior to visit, claws trimmed, etc); appropriate records on file (vaccinations); and confirmation with staff (patient is able to be visited, has no pet allergies, no fear of animals, etc.). The second part has to do with the particular area that I am interested in knowing more about.

It hit me that rather than add another part to the checklist to evaluate in the facility, I would rather ask the therapy teams one on one regarding the perception of their own infection control skills. In my opinion, this is the source of an infection control skill that may not be carried out the proper way. Although these teams are provided with much information regarding infection control, I know first hand by being a nursing student that  a lot of information can be slightly overwhelming. The questions I would like to ask the teams are as follows: Do they think they are confident enough in their skills to explain infection control when needed? If so, is it safe to say they are completely competent or is there still room for a little improvement? If they are not confident enough, which aspect(s) of infection control are they uncertain about? For reinforcement, what do they think are their designated strengths and/or weaknesses regarding infection control measures? Lastly, if developed, would they be willing to attend a focus-based class to improve their infection control skills? I think this would be very valuable and helpful information for future reference because it is information directly related to the therapy teams. This could potentially pave the way for weaknesses to be identified and addressed. Thus, improving overall infection control measures. This could also allow strengths to be reinforced. To make a long story short, my goal is pretty much a focus-based assessment of HIP's therapy teams' confidence of their own infection control skills that will allow HIP to have a better visualization of where their therapy teams stand. I'm so excited to begin interviewing, which will start next week. I will keep you guys posted!!

      

It Just Gets Better

Hello all,

Mrs. Patti and Rocco

This was another great week with the infamous Hand In Paw! This week, I had the opportunity of shadowing a team, Mrs. Patti and Rocco (right), at the Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs. 
This particular facility serves children, ages 0-3 with developmental delays and other disabilities. Rocco did an amazing job interacting with the children. There was a group of three and a group of two children involved in the therapy session. Rocco's job was to pretend to be the sheep in the story that was being read aloud to the children called Sheep in a Jeep. All of the children got to count out one treat for Rocco and each took turns pouring him water into a bowl with the assistance of their instructor. The children's faces lit up as soon as they layed eyes on Rocco and this did not change throughout the duration of the therapy visit. 

Today, I completed the Pet Partners Team Training Course for the Delta Society. Pet Partners offers this course online. However, Hand In Paw requires that rather than taking this course online, you attend the workshop. The workshop was very informative. We were educated on many of the purposes behind the rules and regulations, as well as participate in many visiting scenarios that were acted out by the instructors. We all got a chance to role play, which turned out to be the most helpful due to the fact that the scenarios were set up based on what you may encounter in a hospital setting. Overall, the workshop turned out to be a huge success!

Okay, everyone. Here is a recap of my journey with Hand In Paw thus far. I have attended a pet screening, two shadow visits at Hall-Kent Elementary School and the Bell Center, and a workshop. What's next? Before I am a certified TVA, I must take a test and register with Pet Partners and complete one more shadow visit. I thought that I had to attend the evaluations in December, as well. Today, I found out that TVA 's are not required to partake in these events. It is strictly for the prospective therapy teams. 

Infection control was talked about in great detail at the workshop today. Once I begin visiting hospitals, I can use this valuable information gained at the workshop to better meet the needs of this organization. I was informed that at a hospital, the infection control measures are much more strictly implemented than compared to, say schools involved in the Sit, Stay, and Read program due to the compromised immune systems of the patients in the hospital. This makes a lot of sense. Although hand sanitizer was given to the students at the Bell Center at the end of the session, more strict infection control measures can be observed in an actual hospital. With that being said, my next shadow visit will definitely be at a hospital. Actually, many of my future visits will be in a hospital setting to evaluate infection control measures more in depth. Although this light should have already gone off in my head, I am thankful that it went off at the workshop today. Better late than never, right? I will tell you guys more next week!