Prevention of transmitted infections in a pet therapy program: An exemplar

The focus of the patient experience in health care delivery has afforded the opportunity to integrate pet therapy as a part of patient care. The purpose of this article is to present the implementation of a pet therapy program that includes guidelines for the prevention of transmitted infections. Consideration of infection prevention strategies has resulted in a 16-year program with no documented incidences of transmitted infections, averaging 20,000 pet therapy interactions per year.