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K. Require all handlers to manage their animal as follows:
1. Approach patients from the side that is free of any invasive devices (eg, intravenous
catheters) and prevent the animal from having contact with any catheter insertion
sites, medical devices, breaks in the skin, bandage materials, or other compromised
body site.
2. Before entering an elevator with an animal, ask the other passengers for
permission, and do not enter if any passenger expresses reluctance or appears
apprehensive.
3. Require that everyone who wishes to touch the animal practice hand hygiene
before and after contact.
4. Do not permit a patient to eat or drink while interacting with the animal.
5. Restrict the animal from patient lavatories.
6. In the case of an animal's urinary or fecal accident, immediately terminate the visit
and take appropriate measures to prevent recurrence during future visits.
a. If submissive urination was involved, this will require suspending the animal's
visiting privileges, having the handler address the underlying cause, and then
formally reevaluating the animal's suitability before visiting privileges are restored.
b. If repeated incidents of this nature occur, permanently withdraw the animal's
visiting privileges.
c. In the case of vomiting or diarrhea, terminate the visit immediately and withdraw
the animal from visitation for a minimum of one week.
7. Report any scratches, bites, or any other inappropriate animal behavior to
healthcare staff immediately so that wounds can be cleaned and treated promptly.
Report any injuries to the animal-assisted activities liaison as soon as possible and
to public health or animal control authorities, as required by local laws.
a. The visit should be immediately terminated after any bite or scratch.
b. In the case of bites, intentional scratches, or other serious, inappropriate behavior,
permanently withdraw the animal's visiting privileges.
c. In the case of accidental scratches, consider the circumstances that contributed
to the injury and take appropriate measures to prevent similar injuries from
occurring in the future. If measures cannot be taken to reduce the risk of recurrence,
then visitation privileges should be withdrawn.
d. If it is determined that the handler's behavior was instrumental in the incident,
then the handler's visitation privileges should be terminated until the animal-
assisted activities program manager has addressed the situation.
e. Report any inappropriate patient behavior (eg, inappropriate handling, refusal to
follow instructions) to the animal visit liaison.
L. Facilities should maintain a log of all animal-assisted activities visits
that includes rooms and persons visited for potential contact tracing.
