Other Titles
Crisis Canine Intervention to Increase Nursing Resilience in a Level-1 Trauma Center [slides]
Abstract
Background: Trauma nursing is a complex balance of critical care theory and clinical expertise delivered in a stressful, unpredictable environment that challenges a nurse's emotional well-being. Trauma nurses often encounter the end result of society's unmet social determinants of health and systemic inequities precipitating trauma. At Temple University Hospital, trauma nurses care for patients from the most densely populated, poorest, and violent areas in Philadelphia. Temple University Hospital is a level-1 722-bed safety net facility with 36 trauma-related intensive care beds and experienced 2694 trauma alerts in 2023. Historically, nursing is associated with high work-related stress, emotional demands, and workplace violence that increases incidences of anxiety, depression, burnout, and lack of engagement (Lovell & Ranse, 2022; Maran et al., 2022). Nursing resilience is the development of coping strategies to prevent psychological harm by utilizing support recourses and adapting to the environment, which is essential in the delivery of patient care (Maran et al., 2022; Olaleye et al., 2022). Decreased nursing resiliency is associated with greater absenteeism, low productivity, professional dissatisfaction, and a high turnover rate (Machova et al., 2019; Gee et al., 2021). A literature review demonstrated that an animal-assisted intervention may positively affect a nurse's well-being by decreasing stress and anxiety while improving a nurse's ability to cope.
Purpose: To explore the perception of trauma nurses' anxiety and stress after having an interaction with a therapy dog following a traumatic work-related event.
Method: An electronic questionnaire utilizing a five-point Likert scale was administered to trauma nurses following a traumatic work-related event to gain their perception of the effect that interacting with a therapy dog has on stress, feeling positive, anxiety, and delivering excellent patient care.
Results: The results were that majority of those surveyed or about 70% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that interacting with the therapy dogs decreased the work related stress experienced during the shift and they continued to work in a better emotional state after the stressful event than without the interaction of the therapy dogs.
Notes
References: Gee, N. R., Rodriguez, K. E., Fine, A. H., & Trammell, J. P. (2021). Dogs supporting human health and well-being: A biopsychosocial approach. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.630465
Lovell, T., & Ranse, K. (2022). Animal-assisted activities in the intensive care unit: A scoping review. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2022.103304
Machová, K., Součková, M., Procházková, R., Vaníčková, Z., & Mezian, K. (2019). Canine-assisted therapy improves well-being in nurses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(19), 3670. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193670
Maran, D. A., Capitanelli, L., Cortese, C. G., Llesanmi, O. S., Gianino, M. M., & Chirico, F. (2022). Animal-assisted intervention and health care workers’ psychological health: a systemic review of the literature. Animals, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030383
Olayeye, T. T., Christianson, T. M., & Hoot, T. J. (2022). Nurse burnout and resiliency in critical care nurses: A scoping review. International Journal of African Nursing Sciences, 17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2022.100461
Sigma Membership
Kappa Chi
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Stress and coping, Theory, Testing Strategies
Recommended Citation
Reyes, Ercele P.; Micenec, Paul; Flynn, Lynne Marie; Garulacan, Darlette; and Salazar, Luis, "Animal-Assisted Intervention to Increase Nursing Resilience in a Level-1 Trauma Center" (2025). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 132.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2025/presentations_2025/132
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Animal-Assisted Intervention to Increase Nursing Resilience in a Level-1 Trauma Center
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Background: Trauma nursing is a complex balance of critical care theory and clinical expertise delivered in a stressful, unpredictable environment that challenges a nurse's emotional well-being. Trauma nurses often encounter the end result of society's unmet social determinants of health and systemic inequities precipitating trauma. At Temple University Hospital, trauma nurses care for patients from the most densely populated, poorest, and violent areas in Philadelphia. Temple University Hospital is a level-1 722-bed safety net facility with 36 trauma-related intensive care beds and experienced 2694 trauma alerts in 2023. Historically, nursing is associated with high work-related stress, emotional demands, and workplace violence that increases incidences of anxiety, depression, burnout, and lack of engagement (Lovell & Ranse, 2022; Maran et al., 2022). Nursing resilience is the development of coping strategies to prevent psychological harm by utilizing support recourses and adapting to the environment, which is essential in the delivery of patient care (Maran et al., 2022; Olaleye et al., 2022). Decreased nursing resiliency is associated with greater absenteeism, low productivity, professional dissatisfaction, and a high turnover rate (Machova et al., 2019; Gee et al., 2021). A literature review demonstrated that an animal-assisted intervention may positively affect a nurse's well-being by decreasing stress and anxiety while improving a nurse's ability to cope.
Purpose: To explore the perception of trauma nurses' anxiety and stress after having an interaction with a therapy dog following a traumatic work-related event.
Method: An electronic questionnaire utilizing a five-point Likert scale was administered to trauma nurses following a traumatic work-related event to gain their perception of the effect that interacting with a therapy dog has on stress, feeling positive, anxiety, and delivering excellent patient care.
Results: The results were that majority of those surveyed or about 70% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that interacting with the therapy dogs decreased the work related stress experienced during the shift and they continued to work in a better emotional state after the stressful event than without the interaction of the therapy dogs.
Description
This animal-assisted intervention study (with its limitations by using a convenience sample) showed that after a traumatic or stressful-work event, a visit from the therapy dogs helped trauma nurses decompress and build their work-related stress resilience. The therapy dogs unfortunately are not accepted in all areas of the hospital due to factors such as hygienic concerns and types of traumatic experiences that may not be appropriate for a therapy dog visit.