Julie Schnepps, a private-practice veterinarian in California, was interested in the human–animal bond, and an opportunity was emerging for her to further that interest. One of Schnepps's clients, Dr. Lucas Roman, was a reconstructive surgeon on a sabbatical leave from Great Eastern University. He suggested to her that it might be of importance to determine if pet-assisted therapy could lower the level of anxiety that many of his teenage patients experienced after undergoing surgery for traumatic facial injuries. Schnepps jumped at the chance but didn't know how or where to begin, so she recruited the help of Dr. Maria Torres, her friend and a laboratory animal veterinarian at Riverbank University, a nearby research university. Schnepps and Torres decided that measuring blood cortisol levels in adolescent patients that did or did not have pet dogs would provide the initial data they needed. As a favor to Torres, Riverbank's clinical laboratory agreed to carry out the cortisol analyses at a minimal cost, which Schnepps would pay using funds from her private practice. Torres did not think that IACUC approval was necessary for the study.

Roman was a faculty member at the Great Eastern University medical school, and his surgical practice was at the Great Eastern Hospital. The hospital and the university were legally separate entities, although medical school students used the hospital for part of their training. Roman received approval for the study from the hospital's Human Research Subjects Committee (analogous to an IACUC) and its Infection Control Committee. Once his patients were postoperatively stable, healing well, yet still hospitalized, they would be brought to a special visiting room where they would be allowed a short, controlled interaction with their pet dog. Blood samples would be collected from the patients before and after the dog visits, and then, after their discharge from the hospital, a blood sample would be collected every time they returned for a postsurgical visit.

The primary interest of Schnepps and Roman was patient stress, as reflected in cortisol levels. They hoped to demonstrate that the teenage patients who had dogs had significantly lower cortisol levels than those without dogs. Given the many variables present, this was meant to be a pilot study that might (or might not) provide a justification for moving forward with more involved research on pet-assisted therapy.

Because the dogs are such a critical part of the study, is IACUC approval needed? If so, which IACUC should review the protocol: Riverbank University's or Great Eastern University's? Roman is a faculty member at Great Eastern University's medical school; as part of their training, medical school students might observe the planned patient–animal interaction on video monitors. Does this fact affect the need for IACUC approval?

Response to Protocol Review Scenario: Patient–pet interactions

Response to Protocol Review Scenario: Pet-assisted therapy

Response to Protocol Review Scenario: Better safe than sorry

Response to Protocol Review Scenario: A word from USDA and OLAW