Beth Steinberg and the Magic of Buckeye Paws

by Gregory Greenblatt

Have you ever seen a dog and just started smiling? That instantaneous joy that you get from seeing a dog is what Beth Steinberg, PhD, RN, (’84, ’99 MS, ’22 PhD) research project coordinator for the Center for Integrative Health at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, aspired to bring to the clinical setting. With that goal in mind, Steinberg and Mary Justice, MBA, College of Nursing senior fiscal officer, worked together to develop Buckeye Paws.

“We introduced Buckeye Paws just prior to the pandemic [in March 2020] to help our frontline staff with their stress and burnout. We really wanted to offer a program that met staff where they were, and helped their health and well-being,” Steinberg said.

Buckeye Paws brings highly trained, certified therapy dog handler teams to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “Healthcare worker burnout was a problem before the pandemic. Now it is incredibly problematic for our faculty, staff and even our students.

Buckeye Paws started with just three dog-handler teams. We now have 38 teams serving The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, its network hospitals and all Ohio State campuses.

“The long shifts and stressful work can increase stress and burnout and decrease work engagement,” Steinberg said. “My goal is to teach people just to take a minute for themselves. You’ll be more productive, more creative and less stressed if you take a minute to center yourself, take a breath and get yourself in order before you go in and help that patient.”

The program has received immense positive feedback. The positive effects of Buckeye Paws were immediately visible. “As we would bring the dogs into the units you could see people’s faces change. They relaxed, smiled and started to laugh,” said Steinberg. She added that the dogs seemed to temporarily dissolve problems, even in very tense units.

Steinberg said that the enthusiasm from all participants and observers of Buckeye Paws led them to expand the program to campus. They are currently working with The Ohio State University School of Music to see if an intervention using the therapy dogs might help students with music performance anxiety.

Steinberg uses other wellness methods at home and at work to help others, such as mindfulness and yoga. “When I was working on an intensive care unit, I had two young children, I was going to graduate school and I became stressed and overwhelmed. I found that mindfulness and yoga helped me get centered and back on track,” she explained. She took a few yoga classes and later became a certified yoga teacher. She now works to develop interventions to help support healthcare worker well-being.

You can support Buckeye Paws at give.osu.edu/supportbuckeyepaws.