Patients at UAB’s Intensive Care Unit have started to see a different breed of visitors in the hospital over the past few weeks.

A new project, started by UAB Nursing grad student Meredith Palmer, brings therapy dogs to ICU patients. Palmer started the project to see what effects the dogs had on patients and staff members. Therapy dogs have been used in many other areas of health care, so Palmer decided to introduce them to the ICU. The dogs have only been visiting patients for a few weeks, but their presence is already making a difference.

“We had one where we turned off their sedation and brought the dog in. He petted on the dog. He has six dogs at home and then they didn’t have to turn the sedation back on for quite a few hours. So, it was really impressive,” Palmer said.

The therapy dogs come from Hand in Paw, a non-profit based in Birmingham. The organization was founded in 1996 and already sends therapy dogs to over 90 facilities in central Alabama, including a number of hospitals and elementary schools. Hand in Paw operates mainly through its 175 volunteers that bring therapy dogs in contact with over 97,000 patients and clients a year.

According to the American Kennel Club, “Therapy dogs are dogs who go with their owners to volunteer in settings such as schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. From working with a child who is learning to read to visiting a senior in assisted living, therapy dogs and their owners work together as a team to improve the lives of other people.”

Therapy dogs are not service dogs, as some may assume. Service dogs are partnered with one individual and perform specific tasks to help people with disabilities, like guide dogs for blind individuals. Therapy dogs visit many groups or clients and do not perform specific tasks; their purpose is usually more for emotional support. Therapy dogs also do not have the special privileges service dogs have, like being allowed in restaurants and airplanes.

Palmer hopes that the therapy dogs introduced in the ICU will have a positive impact on patients. As part of her study, she will monitor the dogs’ effectiveness and present her results to UAB. Hopefully, her results will allow therapy dogs to become a permanent service in the ICU.