Te Kura Rata o Waikato | Waikato Clinical Campus

Project 

Endocarditis and cardiac implantable device (CIED) infections place a significant burden on the populations of the Northern parts of Aotearoa New Zealand. This burden is increased for populations affected by significant health care inequity and rheumatic heart disease.

We aim to review all people (adults and children) presenting with endocarditis/CIED infections in these regions, which serves a population of approximately 2.6 million people, and assess their outcomes.

The role

The study will include those with confirmed or probable endocarditis/CIED between June and November 2025. The data will be collected prospectively with subsequent retrospective data collection and review from the summer students. The data collection will include the review of cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, infectious disease, microbiology, radiology, neurology and rehabilitation aspects of each person’s care.

One student will be based in Waikato but will also need to collect data from the Bay of Plenty. A second student will collect the data in Auckland and the Northern region and there will be flexibility for the students to collaborate.

This project will be the first step in implementing the new Australasian Collaboration in Endocarditis registry. We hope this will lead to a presentation at an Australasian cardiac or endocarditis conference and may lead to a publication.