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Enhancing the Patient Experience

The One, Two Punch…Establishing an Olfactory Friendly Hospital Environment

The equation for an olfactory friendly hospital is as simple as neutralizing the ODORS and activating the PHEROMONES.

  • Step 1 – Use cleaners and neutralizers to remove any negative olfactory stimuli.
  • Step 2 – Freshen the air and activate pheromones as positive olfactory stimuli.

Creating a clean and low-stress environment will not only make your patients and clients happy, but will also help decrease the risk of injury to you and your staff.

A few really simple steps to get started include using the right combination of disinfectants, odor neutralizers, air fresheners and stress-reducing pheromones. Neutralizing urine odors helps eliminate behavioral soiling. Although this may not stop the problem, it will reduce the factor stimulating a cat to return to the same location. A cat’s or dog’s sensitive sense of smell will draw him back to a previous site unless sufficient neutralization is achieved.

Read on the back!
FUN FACT 15
Keep Calm and Clean

“Creating a clean and low-stress environment will not only make your patients and clients happy, but will also help decrease the risk of injury to you and your staff.”

There are numerous products on the market with claims to address this problem. Look for products that destroy the odor molecule’s ability to emit vapor. Ideally, it is best to control an odor at its source before it becomes airborne. However, once the malodor is airborne it may become necessary to treat or freshen the air as well as eliminate the source. There are also enzymatic-based odor neutralizers that have shown benefit, however you have to be careful to avoid products that simply mask odors or enzymes that counteract the benefits of detergents and germicides.

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(Horowitz, 2009) Horowitz, A. 2009. Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know. Scribner.

(Craven, 2010) Craven, B.A. et al. 2010. “The fluid dynamics of canine olfaction: unique nasal airflow patterns as an explanation of macrosmia.” Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 6 June 2010, 7(47): 933-943.

(Fogle, 1990) Fogle, B. 1990. The Dog’s Mind: Understanding Your Dog’s Behavior. MacMillan.

(Pagaet, 2003) Pageat P, Gaultier E. 2003. Current research in canine and feline pheromones. Veterinary Clinics of North America Small Animals 33: 187-211.

(Landsberg, 1997) Landsberg G, Hunthausen W, Ackerman L 1997. Handbook of behaviour problems of the dog and cat. Butterworth Heinemann, pp 47-63.

(Tynes, 2015) Tynes, Valarie. Board-certified veterinary behaviorist. Personal correspondence. December 2, 2015. Client Handout: Understand your pet’s fear posted 9/8/15 VeterinaryTeam.dvm360.com.

(Hardin, 2015) Hardin DS, Anderson W, Cattet J 2015. “Dogs Can Be Successfully Trained to Alert to Hypoglycemia Samples from Patients with Type 1 Diabetes.” Diabetes Therapy. 1-9.

(dvm360.com, 2015) Fear-Free Center accessed 12/2/15 at www.dvm360.com/fear-free-veterinary-visits.