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Introduction Hospitalized burn patients encounter multiple stressors including pain, lack of sleep, concerns about outcomes, and unfamiliar environment that can impact their experience, well-being, and recovery. To help reduce these stressors, complementary therapies have been incorporated in their care. Burn Unit staff also carry emotional burdens from caring for patients and experience a high rate of “burnout.” A dog therapy program is one example of complementary interventions to help hospitalized burn patients cope, while helping nurses to focus on their patients in a unique and interactive way. Methods A therapy dog visitation protocol was developed which included recent literature supporting these visits and patient exclusion criteria. Exclusion criteria included: patients with burns >20% TBSA for adults and >15% for children, patients immediately recovering from conscious sedation/anesthesia, patients with Integra, and patients with allergies or fear of dogs. Post-visit surveys were recorded for patients and staff members. The surveys rated overall mood, enjoyment related to the visit, improvement in mood following the visit, importance of having activities such as dog therapy visits during the hospitalization, and recommendations for continued opportunities for other patients and staff to have dog therapy visits. A scaling system from 0–10 was utilized with 10 being the highest score. Results There were 15 patients and 24 staff members who completed the survey. All staff reported positive interactions with the dog therapy and responded that the therapy improved their mood. All patients answered that they enjoyed the therapy dog visit and 13/15 indicated improvement in their overall mood following a visit with the dog. All participants believed it is important to have activities such as dog therapy during hospitalization, with 32/39 rating the importance at 10/10. All participants recommended other patients and staff have the opportunity to have a therapy dog visit. Conclusions The dog therapy program allowed for positive interactions for both nurses and patients and improved patients’ moods. It also provided patients with an activity to look forward to during their hospitalization. Through this connection, nurses are able to help patients recover in a way that is different from the more traditional biomedical approach, which may also improve staff morale. Applicability of Research to Practice Complementary interventions such as therapy dogs may be utilized to improve morale within the Burn Unit.

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