Lay summary
Surgical site infection (SSI) is a serious complication after cardiac surgery, leading to longer hospital stays, worse recovery and higher costs. This research will lay the groundwork to explore whether a low-cost intravenous filter can reduce that risk. I will work with hospital and university teams to analyse health data and test the filters in a simulated clinical setting. The findings will inform the design of a pilot trial using routinely collected health data to track outcomes, a method known as a registry trial. Registry trials could leverage our existing robust health data ecosystem and provide gold-standard evidence at radically lower cost, thereby increasing competitiveness for future research funding. This project will also produce standalone outputs, including the first national data on cardiac infection burden and a report focused on Māori patients, and support safer care, better use of data, and more sustainable research infrastructure in Aotearoa New Zealand.