Today Show, Barnside to Bedside

Today Show, Barnside to Bedside

For the next generation of doctors to develop a better bedside manner, it’s important to spend some time in a stable.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Allan Hamilton of the University of Arizona Medical Center, Tucson, is using his ranch for a first-of-its-kind class to help train first year medical students, bringing the humans in close contact with large flighty four-legged patients who can’t talk and who can be highly -- and violently -- reactive to doctors who aren’t attuned to their patients’ body language.

Asbury Park Press, Horses for Healers

Asbury Park Press, Horses for Healers

HILLSBOROUGH - Lessley Chiriboga was a long way from the pressure cooker of medical school when she tried to coax a stubborn horse named Dane to follow her lead. She considered her posture and tone of voice. She tried to breathe normally. And she looked for clues from the horse that she was connecting. (Michael Diamond Reporting, Asbury Park Press, April 2016)

NJTV News, Horses for Healers

NJTV News Reporter Michael Hill visited Horses for Healers to relay a story about how Horses are helping medical students and professionals with nonverbal communication skills, resulting in authentic bedside manner. July 2015, Hillsborough, New Jersey

Rutgers Medical School offers Horses for Healers, a class that lets students interact with horses to become more aware of non-verbal cues that will help with future patients.

Rutgers Today, Horses for Healers

Horses for Healers has been an ongoing elective course for medical students at UMDNJ, RWJMS and Rutgers Medical School since 2012. Every year the roster fills up where M3/M4 students spend a couple of days with HORSES to learn the authenticity of body language (nonverbal communication) and how that parlays toward bedside manner and patient rapport. April 2015, Hillsborough, New Jersey.

"Horses for Healers" at Spring Reins of Hope uses horses to teach Rutgers medical students how to be better doctors. Through non-verbal communication, horses read body language and respond to students, giving them immediate feedback on whether they feel safe and approachable - two things that research shows are very important to medical outcomes.