Researching Holistic Medicine (Pet Therapy) as a …：研究整体医学（宠物治疗）作为….pptVIP

Researching Holistic Medicine (Pet Therapy) as a Treatment AlternativeJessica JacksonEast Tennessee State University INTRODUCTION Bailey’s workbook states that there are many reasons for conducting research, one of the reasons being to merely search “in an organized manner for relationships between characteristics or entities” (Bailey, xxi). That is the primary reason the topic of pet therapy appealed to me. I wanted to further investigate the potential link between animals and humans, especially when the relationship pertained to the healing process. When I began working in a hospital, I became amazed at how much traditional medicinal means were used, or overused, to treat patients. It was obvious to me that not every patient would respond to such treatment and that an alternative must exist for patients who needed other methods of stimulation to facilitate their recovery from an illness or injury. Upon my first visit to the floor in the pediatric unit of the Johnson City Medical Center, I passed by a number of rooms labeled “Pet Therapy”. This intrigued my curiosities so I questioned a nurse in the unit regarding her knowledge of the rooms. She them proceeded to inform me of the hospital’s policy allowing various animals or pets to visit the patients. The animals can visit the entire unit or if a specific patient is in need of emotional stimulation, the patient can play with the animal in one of the individual pet therapy rooms. INTRODUCTION, CONT… Upon further investigation, it is apparent that pet therapy is a popular type of rehabilitation and is used commonly in a variety of medical facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, and other arenas for treatment. Though animals cannot speak English back to us, they still communicate through touch and expressions. Animals can be utilized in a number of ways including occupational and physical therapy, speech therapy, improving cognitive skills, patient counseling, and perhaps most importantly, socialization