er {coursekata}

Emergency room canine therapy

Description

Data from: Controlled clinical trial of canine therapy versus usual care to reduce patient anxiety in the emergency department.

Abstract

Objective

Test if therapy dogs can reduce anxiety in emergency department (ED) patients.

Methods

In this controlled clinical trial (NCT03471429), medically stable, adult patients were approached if the physician believed that the patient had “moderate or greater anxiety.” Patients were allocated on a 1:1 ratio to either 15 min exposure to a certified therapy dog and handler (dog), or usual care (control). Patient reported anxiety, pain and depression were assessed using a 0-10 scale (10=worst). Primary outcome was change in anxiety from baseline (T0) to 30 min and 90 min after exposure to dog or control (T1 and T2 respectively); secondary outcomes were pain, depression and frequency of pain medication.

Results

Among 98 patients willing to participate in research, 7 had aversions to dogs, leaving 91 (93%) were willing to see a dog; 40 patients were allocated to each group (dog or control). No data were normally distributed. Median baseline anxiety, pain and depression were similar between groups. With dog exposure, anxiety decreased significantly from T0 to T1: 6 (IQR 4-9.75) to T1: 2 (0-6) compared with 6 (4-8) to 6 (2.5-8) in controls (P<0.001, for T1, Mann-Whitney U). Dog exposure was associated with significantly lower anxiety at T2 and a significant overall treatment effect on two-way repeated measures ANOVA for anxiety, pain and depression. After exposure, 1/40 in the dog group needed pain medication, versus 7/40 in controls (P=0.056, Fisher’s).

Conclusions

Exposure to therapy dogs plus handlers significantly reduced anxiety in ED patients.

Usage

er

Format

A data frame with 84 observations on the following 53 variables:

id

Subject ID

condition

Whether the subject saw a Dog or was in the Control group

age

Subject's age in years

gender

Subject's self-identified gender

race

Subject's self-identified race

veteran

Is the subject a veteran?

disabled

Is the subject disabled?

dog_name

The name of the therapy dog

base_pain

Subject's self reported pain before the intervention (T0)

base_depression

Subject's self reported depression before the intervention (T0)

base_anxiety

Subject's self reported anxiety before the intervention (T0)

base_total

The sum of the subject's ⁠base_*⁠ scores

later_pain

Subject's self reported pain after the intervention (T1)

later_depression

Subject's self reported depression after the intervention (T1)

later_anxiety

Subject's self reported anxiety after the intervention (T1)

later_total

The sum of the subject's ⁠later_*⁠ scores

last_pain

Subject's self reported pain after the intervention (T2)

last_depression

Subject's self reported depression after the intervention (T2)

last_anxiety

Subject's self reported anxiety after the intervention (T2)

last_total

The sum of the subject's ⁠last_*⁠ scores

change_pain

The change in subject's pain from before the intervention to after

change_depression

The change in subject's depression from before the intervention to after

change_anxiety

The change in subject's anxiety from before the intervention to after

change_total

The sum of the subject's ⁠change_*⁠ scores

provider_male

Was the health care provider male?

provider

The health care provider's status: either an ⁠Advanced Practitioner⁠, Resident physician, or Attending physician

heart_rate

The subject's heart rate at baseline (T0)

resp_rate

The subject's respiratory rate at baseline (T0)

sp_o2

The subject's SpO2 at baseline (T0)

bp_syst

The subject's systolic blood pressure at baseline (T0)

bp_diast

The subject's diastolic blood pressure at baseline (T0)

med_given

Was the subject given medication prior to the study? (T0)

mh_none

None of the other medical history items were indicated

mh_asthma

Medical history: asthma

mh_smoker

Medical history: smoker

mh_cad

Medical history: coronary artery disease

mh_diabetes

Medical history: diabetes mellitus

mh_hypertension

Medical history: hypertension

mh_stroke

Medical history: prior stroke

mh_chronic_kidney

Medical history: chronic kidney disease

mh_copd

Medical history: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

mh_hyperlipidemia

Medical history: hyperlipidemia

mh_hiv

Medical history: HIV

mh_other

Medical history: other (write-in)

ph_adhd

Psychiatric history: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

ph_anxiety

Psychiatric history: anxiety

ph_bipolar

Psychiatric history: bipolar

ph_borderline

Psychiatric history: borderline personality disorder

ph_depression

Psychiatric history: depression

ph_schizophrenia

Psychiatric history: schizophrenia

ph_ptsd

Psychiatric history: PTSD

ph_none

None of the other psychiatric history items were indicated

ph_other

Psychiatric history: other (write-in)

References

Kline, J. A., Fisher, M. A., Pettit, K. L., Linville, C. T., & Beck, A. M. (2019). Controlled clinical trial of canine therapy versus usual care to reduce patient anxiety in the emergency department. PloS One, 14(1), e0209232. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209232