Research priority-setting to improve care for people who inject drugs with infective endocarditis in Canada: the Canadian Injection Drug Use-associated Endocarditis Working Group

Infective endocarditis is a life-threatening bacterial infection of the heart's inner lining. It is an increasingly common cause of disability and death among people who inject drugs in Canada. When accessing health care for injection drug use-associated infective endocarditis (IDU-IE), patients report poor care experiences and discrimination. Healthcare providers describe not knowing how to provide high quality care to these patients, and management varies widely across Canada. There are no clinical guidelines for IDU-IE. In response to gaps in research and care, the Canadian Injection Drug Use-associated Endocarditis (CIDUE, pronounced "Sea-Doo") working group organized in 2021. Members now include cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, nurses, infectious diseases and addiction medicine physicians, and internists from across Canada. With this research priority-setting exercise, our aims are (1) to identify research priorities of patients, clinicians, and researchers to improve care for people with IDUE-IE in Canada; (2) to catalyze multidisciplinary research collaboration amongst CIDUE; and (3) to facilitate the engagement of people with lived experience of IDUE-IE and injection drug use within CIDUE. We plan to conduct a decision-making exercise to identify and rank research priorities among five stakeholder groups: 1. people with lived experience of IDU-IE; 2. inpatient/acute care (e.g. nursing, cardiology, internal medicine, and addiction medicine); 3. cardiac surgeons; 4. infectious diseases; and 5. outpatient care providers. Stakeholder groups will be comprised of CIDUE members and invited experts. A multidisciplinary steering committee made up of CIDUE members will oversee the process and analyze responses. Knowledge translation products will include lists of research priorities from each stakeholder group, as well as an analysis contrasting and comparing priorities. These will directly inform research plans and future grant applications from CIDUE.