Infection Prevention & Therapy Animal Visits
Meet the highest infection prevention standards on every therapy animal visit.
Infection Prevention & Therapy Animal Visits Course Details
Therapy animal visits can introduce infection risks for people and animals. Because of this, handlers and facilities need practical strategies to help reduce risk. The Infection Prevention & Therapy Animal Visits course was designed for new and experienced therapy animal handlers, facility staff, and volunteer coordinators to promote safer therapy animal visits.
You’ll learn:
- How infections can spread between people and animals
- Practical steps to help reduce risk
- How to follow standard precautions
- The importance of hand hygiene before, during, and after a visit
- How to self-screen for signs of illness
Reviewed by members of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the CDC, and leading veterinarians, this course meets 2015 SHEA requirements. So you can be sure you’re prepared and meeting the highest infection prevention standards on every visit.
Course Outline
Module 1: The Importance of Infection Prevention. This module focuses on hygiene best practices, with a strong emphasis on hand hygiene.
Module 2: Promoting Infection Prevention. This module focuses on how you, as a handler, can be proactive with infection prevention, setting up both clients and your animal for success.
Module 3: Infection Prevention and Therapy Animal Visits Assessment. 20 questions will review the content covered in this course and help you evaluate what you’ve learned.
Course Pricing
Thanks to the support of the Baxter Foundation, the Infection Prevention & Therapy Animal Visits Course is free to all Registered Volunteers.
Registered Volunteer: $0 | Non or In-progress volunteer: $49
Course Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Our courses are fully self-paced and easy to follow. They are designed for people with busy lives, those new to volunteering with their pet, or those already visiting with their pet and looking to build skills and confidence. You’ll hear the lessons read aloud, and you’ll answer real-world, scenario-based questions (think: multiple choice and drag-and-drop). You’ll have a quick knowledge check at the end and walk away with a certificate you can show the staff at any facility you visit. The content in the Infection Prevention & Therapy Animal Visits course was reviewed by members of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the CDC, and leading veterinarians, and it meets 2015 SHEA requirements. So you’ll know you’re doing things the right way from the start.
With every Pet Partners online course, you can truly go at your own pace. Courses usually take people 2–4 hours to complete, depending on how deeply you engage with the content. You can start, stop, and return whenever your schedule allows. Learn at whatever pace works best for you!
The course is available for free to all registered Pet Partners volunteers. For all other members of the public, or volunteers still in the process of getting registered, the course is $49.
You will see a Buy Course section on this course page above. Simply enter your email address and click “Next”. You will receive a login code via email, which you can use to log in to the LMS. Follow the instructions on the screen to proceed.
Yes, Pet Partners courses are designed to be as inclusive as possible! The Infection Prevention & Therapy Animal Visits Course has accurate closed captions, screen reader support, alternate text, keyboard navigation, and learner-controlled playback and display settings. Whether you’re using a laptop or assistive tech, you’ll be able to access everything you need.
It is not! This course is completely optional—it’s just for people who want to deepen their understanding of infection prevention strategies and learn what steps they can take to keep themselves, their pets, and the people they visit safest from infection.