A visit to the emergency room is often fraught with pain, fear and anxiety, and it can be especially difficult for children. New research finds that having a therapy dog in the emergency department can help ease the anxiety and distress for children.

Nearly four in five children in the ER experience both pain and anxiety. Nearly 5% of all children and adolescents were physically or chemically restrained while in the emergency room, one study found, and children with psychiatric diagnoses are at higher risk of receiving chemical sedation.

Researcher Heather P. Kelker, MD., with Indiana University School of Medicine, and colleagues undertook a randomized clinical trial involving 80 children aged 5-17 years with suspected moderate to high anxiety in an emergency department. The intervention group was randomly assigned to have exposure to a therapy dog and handler for approximately 10 minutes.

The study found greater reduction in both child-reported and parental-reported child anxiety for the intervention compared to the control group. When anxious children in the ER spent time with a certified therapy dog and handler, they reported a statistically significant decrease in anxiety 45 minutes later.

Kelker and colleagues also found that children with existing psychiatric conditions showed similar improvements in anxiety compared with children without diagnosed psychiatric conditions. The parent/guardian participants also reported significantly lower child anxiety with exposure to the therapy dog and handler.

In addition, the researchers looked at medications commonly used for behavioral control or to treat severe anxiety (midazolam, ketamine, lorazepam, and droperidol). They found a reduced use of these medications, though the difference from the control group was not significant.

“These findings support the use of therapy dogs to help reduce pain and anxiety without the use of chemical or physical constraint,” the authors conclude.

Previous studies have looked at the use of therapy dogs with adults. For example, a study in 2022 found that visiting therapy dog teams had a positive impact on patient pain and related measures of anxiety. The impacts were similar among female and male participants. The therapy dog intervention group had a greater reduction in reported pain compared to the control group.

In addition to providing support for ER patients, one hospital system is working with therapy dogs to help ease the significant stress and trauma faced daily by hospital emergency physicians and staff. The HCA HealthONE Rose medical center in Denver works with carefully trained labradors that provide a calming, grounding presence for the staff in the midst of the stressful environment.