Meet Angie
Angie Filipiak, Founder of Angie’s Purpose, is a 2002 graduate of Marquette University Nursing School in Milwaukee, WI. She started her nursing career at Johns Hopkins Hospital Children Center in Baltimore, MD. In 2007, she returned to her hometown of Waterloo, IL and took a position at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, MO.
She transitioned to nursing leadership in 2015 accepting a nurse manager position at SSM Health St. Clare Hospital in Fenton, MO. In 2018, she stayed at SSM Health taking a Nursing Director position. She obtained her master’s degree in nursing with an emphasis in nursing leadership in 2019 from Webster University in St. Louis, MO. In 2021, she obtained her Nurse Executive Advanced Board Certification. Angie’s Purpose, LLC was started in 2021.
Angie started her research on Doll Therapy in 2016 during her time as a manager of a medical/surgical unit. She saw firsthand how challenging it was for her staff to care for the dementia patient population and keep safe in the hospital setting. After a dementia patient who had been a neonatal intensive care nurse found comfort and referred to a towel that had a smiley face as her baby, Angie brought in a new baby doll to have on hand if they had another patient who found comfort in a baby doll.
Months later, another dementia patient was being cared for in her unit. Staff voiced how challenging it was to care for her and they were concerned she would fall as she kept trying to get up without help. She was a high fall risk patient. The patient was restless, agitated, and constantly yelling. Angie told staff she could try the doll therapy intervention with this patient. The doll immediately provided comfort to this patient. She interacted with the doll, stopped trying to get out of bed, and never yelled after the doll was provided. The patient was calm and her restlessness decreased. Angie and her nursing staff were amazed and so thankful for the doll therapy intervention.
This led Angie to review the literature. Evidence revealed doll therapy reduces restraint use, antipsychotic medication use, and safety sitter use. She was surprised to find there was no link or studies conducted to determine if doll therapy decreased fall rates in this patient population and noted very few hospitals implemented doll therapy. Angie conducted research to determine if doll therapy decreased falls in this patient population. It only made sense to Angie if dolls calmed and decreased negative behavior and psychological symptoms of dementia, patients would be less likely to get up without help and potentially fall and drop a baby doll.
Results revealed doll therapy reduced negative behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in 74% of males and 83% of females who were provided a doll. Fall rates for dementia patients with doll therapy was 1.2 falls/1,000 patient days compared to the dementia patient population fall rate of 8.8 falls/1,000 patient day. 85% of nurses surveyed revealed doll therapy was easy to work into their nursing practice, was not time consuming and would recommend hospitals implement a doll therapy program.
Angie has the expertise and knowledge of how health systems can successfully implement a doll therapy program and how to provide nurses and caregivers with a tool to decrease the stress associated with taking care of this patient population. It is one of the most rewarding experiences to see how these dolls provide comfort and a sense of purpose for these patients. Thank you for taking the time to learn how Angie’s Purpose, LLC was started.