The Starship Paediatric Rheumatology service is primarily an outpatient service that sees patients in both the daystay unit and outpatient clinics at Starship.
The service is part of the New Zealand Paediatric Rheumatology service, providing specialised care for children and young people with arthritis and related conditions in the greater Auckland region, the upper North Island and the Far North.
The rheumatology team includes doctors, a clinical nurse specialist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist. They also work closely with other paediatric specialists when required.
What is Rheumatology?
Rheumatology is the specialty of medicine that includes arthritis and autoimmune diseases. The term arthritis refers to the inflammation of a joint in the body. An autoimmune disease is where an abnormality in the immune system leads to the body’s defence harming its own cells by mistake.
Common Conditions
Paediatric Rheumatology encompasses a wide variety of inflammatory and non-inflammatory conditions of the musculoskeletal system (muscles and joints) as well as conditions of non-infectious multi-system inflammation.
The types of conditions cared for by the Rheumatology team include:
- Juvenile idiopathic arthirits (JIA)
- Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
- Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM)
- Vasculitis
- Connective tissue disease
- Scleroderma
- Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO)