TY - JOUR
T1 - Pets' impact on your patients' health
T2 - Leveraging benefits and mitigating risk
AU - Hodgson, Kate
AU - Barton, Luisa
AU - Darling, Marcia
AU - Antao, Viola
AU - Kim, Florence A.
AU - Monavvari, Alan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, American Board of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/7/1
Y1 - 2015/7/1
N2 - Over two thirds of Americans live with pets and consider them important members of the family. Pets benefit human health (zooeyia) in 4 ways: as builders of social capital, as agents of harm reduction, as motivators for healthy behavior change, and as potential participants in treatment plans. Conversely, pets can present risks to their owners. They are potential sources of zoonotic disease and injury. Pets can also challenge a family's prioritization of financial and social resources. To activate the benefits of zooeyia and appropriately calibrate and mitigate zoonotic risk, physicians first need to know about the pets in their patients' families. Asking about pets is a simple and feasible approach to assess patients' environmental history and social capital. Asking about pets is a nonthreatening way to build rapport and demonstrates an interest in the whole family, which can improve the physician-patient therapeutic alliance. Physicians can use an interprofessional, collaborative approach with veterinarians to address zoonotic health risks and leverage zooeyia.
AB - Over two thirds of Americans live with pets and consider them important members of the family. Pets benefit human health (zooeyia) in 4 ways: as builders of social capital, as agents of harm reduction, as motivators for healthy behavior change, and as potential participants in treatment plans. Conversely, pets can present risks to their owners. They are potential sources of zoonotic disease and injury. Pets can also challenge a family's prioritization of financial and social resources. To activate the benefits of zooeyia and appropriately calibrate and mitigate zoonotic risk, physicians first need to know about the pets in their patients' families. Asking about pets is a simple and feasible approach to assess patients' environmental history and social capital. Asking about pets is a nonthreatening way to build rapport and demonstrates an interest in the whole family, which can improve the physician-patient therapeutic alliance. Physicians can use an interprofessional, collaborative approach with veterinarians to address zoonotic health risks and leverage zooeyia.
KW - Collaboration
KW - Communication
KW - Pets
KW - Primary health care
KW - Social determinants of health
KW - Zooeyia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937133277&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3122/jabfm.2015.04.140254
DO - 10.3122/jabfm.2015.04.140254
M3 - Journal Article
C2 - 26152446
AN - SCOPUS:84937133277
SN - 1557-2625
VL - 28
SP - 526
EP - 534
JO - Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
JF - Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
IS - 4
ER -