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In hospitals with animal visitation programs-about 10 percent of all hospitals in the country, according to the Delta Society-patients who are allergic to dogs, afraid of dogs or just plain don't like dogs have this information posted in their charts. Because hospital rules are so complicated, a successful animal-assisted therapy program must be carefully designed, those who run the programs say.

"I think that having a nursing background is a wonderful thing for an animal-assisted therapy program," Jankowski said. "If you're going to bring dogs into a hospital, you have to be darn sure you know what you're doing."

A nod from nurses

Nurses who run animal-assisted therapy programs say volunteers follow special protocols for bathing and grooming the animals before they come to the hospital. Handlers brush their dogs' teeth and clip their nails. Although many hospitals have balked at animal visits, voicing concerns about infection and sanitation, hospitals with the programs say they have had no incidents of patients being infected or bitten by an animal.

"The principles of infection control are the same" as for humans, said Paul Maxwell, MA, RN, manager of infection control and employee health at Shriners Hospital in Sacramento. "It's just commonsense stuff."

Whenever Maxwell brings in his own certified therapy dog, a yellow Lab named Bubba, he gets calls to visit not just patients but staff as well. Managers of animal-assisted therapy programs say they tell their volunteers to allow at least an hour extra for time to spend with hospital workers.

"Pet therapy is a real boost for employee health," Maxwell said, particularly a hospital staff that deals with high levels of stress. "I think there's a whole human-animal bond that you see under stressful times."

Cole would like to see more nurse involvement in animal-assisted therapy. "Nurses have so many things to do, it doesn't matter whether they include animal-assisted therapy into their care. Other than that, most nurses are so compassionate, they see a need for it."

She expects more nurses will become involved as evidence showing the benefits of animal-assisted therapy increases. Some nurses are already discovering new ways to use animals.

At The Children's Hospital in Denver, oncology nurse Anne Ingalls has started a program with the Veterinary Referral Clinic of Colorado that matches dogs and children who are both cancer survivors. The dogs in Jankowski's program put on a full-costume performance of the Nutcracker ballet for patients at Loyola and Hines.

"The nurses really appreciate the service the dogs provide and they really become a part of the team," Hemphill said. "They're a part of the care we deliver. A fun part of the care, not a bad part of the care."

Contact Cathryn Domrose at kaguilar@well.com

Click here to find additional pet therapy online resources.