The Effect of Pre Surgery Dog Visits on Post Surgery Consumption of Pain Medication

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences

Status: Withdrawn

Conditions: Post Tonsillectomy Pain

Treatments: Behavioral: Costumed character; Behavioral: Parents-only; Behavioral: Therapy dog

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00452738

2006036

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objective of this study is to examine the effects of pre surgery dog visits as compared to a costumed character or parents-only on the consumption of pain medication after surgery. It is hypothesized that pre surgery dog visits will reduce post surgical stress and anxiety.

Full description

Recent research has revealed that children who are highly anxious prior to surgery experienced more problems post surgery. These problems included reporting of more pain and requested more pain medication during hospitalization and home follow up. Consumption of pain medication may not be the optimal pain management program. In contrast, numerous human-animal interaction studies have shown that animals tend to have a calming effect on people, reduce stress, and lesson anxiety. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to examine the effect of pre surgery dog visits as compared to a costumed character or parents-only on the consumption of pain medication after surgery.

Sex: All

Ages: 4 to 7 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy (T/A)
• 4-7 years old
• Prescribed codeine and/or analgesics for postoperative pain

Exclusion criteria

• Participant must not be afraid of dogs, or allergic to animal dander
• Chronic medical conditions other than T/A
• Developmentally delayed
• On psychotropic medications

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: Single Blind