Dane Prugh

Who was Dane Prugh?

Dane Gaskill Prugh, MD, a well-respected child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, with training and [in pediatrics, who pioneered in demonstrating the necessity for wider knowledge, understanding, and experience in persons who evaluate such programs.

His research indicated that cheerful and familiar hospital stays for children are shorter and reduce difficulties adapting to the hospital when physical surroundings. Children's prefer hospitals with more "happy" surroundings. Related studies have shown that children who have the support of family members during prolonged hospitalizations are less likely to suffer from learning problems and delinquency later on.

He is sometimes cited as a leader in developing play therapy, and of affirmative action at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, a school which annually names a recipient for the Dane Prugh Teaching Award.

Dane Prugh had done psychiatry in the Medical Center in Brookline, then ran the inpatient unit at Rochester for a number of years.