Kelly is a Senior Lecturer and Academic Program Director for Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. She has more than two decades of clinical experience as a renal dietitian. In 2018 she completed her PhD which focused on the impact of health literacy and cognitive impairment on dietary self-management in end stage kidney disease. She has recently completed an NHMRC Translating Research Into Practice Fellowship to develop a new health literacy sensitive model of renal dietetic care using health literacy sensitive counselling and education techniques. She is a member of the Kidney Health Australia CARI Executive Steering Committee and ANZSN Dialysis Advisory committee. Kelly’s research interests and values are supporting people with kidney disease to live better lives, improving patient education by health professionals for patients and educating future dietitians.
Kelly Lambert is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian specialising in renal disease. Kelly has more than 20 years experience as a clinical dietitian and spent 14 years as the Senior renal clinical lead dietitian at the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. Her main areas of clinical work were the provision of care to patients with end stage kidney disease undertaking dialysis or who have received a kidney transplant.
Kelly has extensive teaching experience and has also supervised more than 50 research students from the fields of nutrition, dietetics, medical science and graduate medicine. Her research interests include research to improve the provision of education to patients, especially those with kidney disease to improve patient outcomes.
Kelly is an active member of the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) Renal Interest Group; the Australian New Zealand Society of Nephrology and the postgraduate Renal Nutrition Program. Kelly has presented her research at many national and international conferences.
Innovations developed as part of her research program include the Easy Diet Diary Renal app. This was developed as a collaboration between Xyris Software, Professor Grahame Elder and Kelly Lambert. See here for more details https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/easy-diet-diary-renal/id1007054961?mt=8
Research on the cost of eating gluten free suggests it is unaffordable for those who need it most
Coeliac disease is a gastrointestinal condition managed solely through a lifelong gluten-free diet, and affects one in 70 Australians. Carefully following a gluten-free diet is crucial in preventing complications such as bowel cancer, osteoporosis and infertility. However for Australian families with a member affected by coeliac disease, the expense of a gluten-free diet is an unavoidable reality. <br /><br />In the first research of its kind in Australia, we published a study that demonstrated that families could be paying up to 17 per cent more for a gluten–free diet and for some single gluten-free items as much as 500 per cent more. The study we published compared the cost of a basket of gluten-free healthy foods, with a traditional healthy food basket, among four different family types. We found that following a healthy gluten free diet was most expensive for nuclear families, single parent families and single young males – and was even more difficult for these family types receiving welfare payments. <br /><br />This research demonstrated that following a gluten-free diet was unaffordable for the majority of family types, and for most families receiving welfare payments in Australia. The research also documented a hefty mark-up for gluten-free staples, like bread and flour, compared with ‘regular’ foods. For example, gluten free items were between 316% (for wraps) and 574% (for flour) more expensive per 100g. <br /><br />The publicity generated by this research was extensive and generated significant discussion both online, on radio and on TV. This included discussions about the need for the federal government to consider a national subsidised medical foods program in Australia, similar to a model being used in England, so that people with coeliac disease can have better access to affordable gluten-free staple foods via prescription.
<p>The approach we took to understanding the impact of therapeutic diets on patients is novel. Although previous costing studies have been conducted on healthy eating in Australia, no studies had explored the real world impact of a common therapeutic diet on common family types in the Australian context. Impact data taken from the journal website indicates an Altmetric attention score of 74 which indicates the article is the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric.<br /><br />The results of our research prompted significant discussion and media attention around the implications of medically indicated gluten free diets. Data from the study was also used (but not acknowledged) in advocacy submissions by Coeliac UK to maintain price subsidisation for residents of numerous health boroughs in the United Kingdom (<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678181/report_of_responses_-_gluten_free_food_prescribing_consultation.pdf" title="PDF - Report of Responses Following the Public Consultation on Gluten Free Prescribing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Report of Responses Following the Public Consultation on Gluten Free Prescribing</a>). <br /><br />The Blackpool Clinical Commissioning group also quoted the Chief Executive of Coeliac UK ( who used but did not acknowledge the research findings about the cost of gluten free bread <a href="http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/health/coeliacs-told-to-eat-potatoes-instead-of-pizza-as-gluten-free-prescriptions-are-axed-1-8148476" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/health/coeliacs-told-to-eat-potatoes-instead-of-pizza-as-gluten-free-prescriptions-are-axed-1-8148476</a> ). <br /><br />Debate about the cost implications of the gluten free diet and on adherence were also debated in the British Medical Journal, one of the most prestigious medical journals published (BMJ 20172017;356:i6810 doi: 10.1136/bmj.i6810). <br /><br /><br /></p>
Beneficiary
Quantification
Description
Evidence
Description
Redesigning patient education materials to improve health outcomes
Patient education materials are widely used by health professionals to increase knowledge, facilitate behaviour change and reinforce key concepts. Unfortunately patients frequently find the patient educational materials used by dietitians to be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30259677" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confusing and contradictory.</a> This has been demonstrated to be related to<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29061163" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> treatment adherence</a>. This is especially important given the high rates of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27505310" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cognitive impairment</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26513027" target="_blank" rel="noopener">low health literacy </a>amongst patients seen by dietitians. <br /><br />One consequence of poorly designed patient education materials is that patients turn online to find diet information. This is problematic because the patient education materials found online are often <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28211108" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inaccurate </a>and not evidence based but are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29056159" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highly understandable and actionable.</a><br /><br />Guidance for dietitians about how to design effective printed educational materials is<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29968271" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> scarce</a>. To counter this, Kelly has embarked on a program of workshops to facilitate health professionals in this area. The first presentation at the Australasian Enteral and Parenteral Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2018, was considered highly valuable and feedback from more than 240 participants was that the guidance was immediately applicable. For example: <br /><br /><em>" 3 steps to making patient education truly patient centred by Dr Kelly Lambert... was most transferable into day to day practice"</em><br /><em><br />"Kelly Lambert's talk on patient education was practical and relevant to the here and now"<br /><br />"Kelly Lambert's session on patient education and information. Absolutely brilliant re readability, actionability and understandability"<br /><br /></em>Following this, an additional workshop was held with the Nutrition Education Materials Online group in Queensland. This website is widely used by QLD health professionals and is the central portal for health professional to access consensus based accurate printed dietary education materials for use in education with patients. The event was webcast to more than 30 sites. Feedback again was highly positive. <br /><br />Another event was held in Auckland New Zealand and webcast across the country. The workshop feedback from dietitians in New Zealand was also highly positive and has led to important practice change: "<em>Our clinical lead has told the team that anyone who is working on updating or making new diet sheets for our health board needs to view this presentation as a requirement. This was minuted in our meeting". </em>Similarly:<em> "The presentation was clear and easy to follow. It provided great insight as to what patients may take away from the information we provide. It also provided clear guidelines with additional resources to help improve. This is very useful information".<br /><br /><br /> </em>The research work has contributed to the scholarly literature and provided health professionals with practical advice for developing resources and education sessions targeted at patients<em><br /></em>
<strong>Impact and engagement at national level</strong><br />Presentation at Australasian Society for Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2018. This is the leading professional society for health professionals working in the area of enteral and parenteral nutrition. This includes nurses, Doctors and other allied health professionals. <br /><br /><p>In 2019, Kelly was invited by the Convenor of the NEMO (Nutrition Education Materials Online) website to workshop and train dietitians about how to improve the quality of the patient education materials provided to patients in Queensland. NEMO is the central point of contact and online warehouse for dietary education materials used by dietitians and other health professionals in Queensland. All patient education materials are also freely available for the public to download and use. The workshop has resulted in a revision to the quality assurance process that NEMO materials are developed and evaluated in order to improve the understandability, actionability and impact of materials. The workshop to <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/improving-our-patient-education-resources-workshop-tickets-64207362951" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queensland Health Dietitians </a>in June 2019 was webcast to more than 30 sites and more than 150 dietitians live.</p><br />Webinars to<a href="https://educationinnutrition.com.au/presentations?keywords=kelly+lambert&csrf_token=79e2b8ecaa8043267a91d9322659caa7bf2863fb" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Education in Nutrition, </a>a widely access professional development platform for dietitians in Australia and New Zealand<br /><br />Webinars to the <a href="https://www.renalnutritionprogram.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renal Nutrition Program participants</a><br /><br /><strong>Impact at international level<br /></strong>The research has attracted attention internationally resulting in invitations to present work <a href="https://educationinnutrition.com.au/presentations?keywords=kelly+lambert&csrf_token=79e2b8ecaa8043267a91d9322659caa7bf2863fb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">internationally, </a>i<a href="https://www.kidneynews.org/kidney-news/features/putting-kidney-diet-apps-to-the-test" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nterviews</a>, c<a href="https://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/clinjasn/14/4/491.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ommentaries </a>and a <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/clinician-researchers-initiative" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Health and Medical Translating Research into Practice Fellowship</a> to design, implement and evaluate a new health literacy sensitive model of renal dietetics care using health literacy tailored printed educational materials. <br /><strong><br /></strong>
Beneficiary
Quantification
Description
Evidence
Description
UOW funded app developed for people with kidney disease
<p>Using seed funding provided by the UOW Pitch competition, Kelly has developed a mobile application for people with kidney disease. The free app uses Australian food composition data and allows users to record their food intake as well as determine the energy, protein, fat, sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphate intake. The app also includes bar code scanning capabilities to enable users to analyse new foods in renal time. The app is the only one of its type available in the Australasian & Singapore app markets. It is ranked #33 in the Apple App store in the Medical app category (of which there are an estimated 47 526 apps as at January 2019). Feedback from users is overwhelmingly positive with an average rating 4.7 out of 5 stars. The app has been downloaded thousands of times. Feasibility testing has also confirmed that use of the app enhances motivation and patient adherence to the renal diet. </p>
AS an experienced renal dietitian, Kelly noted that there was strong demand from patients with kidney disease and their families for an app to record their dietary intake. There was also a need for patients and health professionals to access accurate food composition information related to their renal diet. As a result, a collaboration was formed between Kelly Lambert, Professor Grahame Elder (Nephrologist, Westmead Hospital, Sydney) and Xyris Software (the leading food composition technology provider in Australia). Using seed funding from the University of Wollongong and funding from Westmead Hospital, the Easy Diet Diary Renal app was developed. This app allows users to look up the composition of any food available in Australia or New Zealand (including fresh foods and bush tucker). Other features include the ability to look up food composition information using bar code scanning functionality on more than 50 000 foods; and to record and analyse daily food intake according to renal diet nutrient targets. <br /><br />The app was used in a feasibility clinical trial with 25 healthy subjects. The control group were asked to follow a standard renal diet following advice from a renal dietitian and provided with diet sheets. The intervention group received the app in addition to standard advice and materials. The results indicated that use of the app found the app convenient, easy to use, users referred to dietary information more frequently than the control group; learned more new information about the renal diet; were more motivated to maintain the diet and likely to recommend the app information to family or friends. Information about this trial has been published as: Elder GJ, Malik A, and <strong>Lambert K </strong>(2017) The role of dietary phosphate restriction in chronic kidney disease. <em>Nephrology</em>, Published online: 24 October 2017. [Epub ahead of print]; DOI: 10.1111/nep.13188. The results were also presented at the joint Australian New Zealand Society of Nephrology Annual Scientific Meeting / Asia Pacific Society of Nephrology Congress meeting in Perth, Australia in 2016. The proceedings are published as: <strong>Lambert K</strong>, Elder G, Xyris Software, Malik A (2016) Development and feasibility of a smartphone app using Australian food database information to monitor dietary phosphate, protein, sodium, calcium and potassium; Nephrology (2016): 21 (suppl S2): page 216-7 (160). <br /><br /><br />Since it's public release in 2017, the app has been downloaded thousands of times. User feedback from patients via the app store is highly positive. An Android version will be released in the near future due to public and health professional demand. Additional software features to support health professionals are also under development with the Xyris team due to ongoing positive feedback about it's use in everyday clinical practice.
Doctor of Philosophy,
University of Wollongong,
School of Medicine,
Thesis title:Exploring the challenges to dietary self-management adherence in end stage kidney disease: implications for clinical practice 2015 - 2018
Kelly Lambert is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian specialising in renal disease. Kelly has more than 20 years experience as a clinical dietitian and spent 14 years as the Senior renal clinical lead dietitian at the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. Her main areas of clinical work were the provision of care to patients with end stage kidney disease undertaking dialysis or who have received a kidney transplant.
Kelly has extensive teaching experience and has also supervised more than 50 research students from the fields of nutrition, dietetics, medical science and graduate medicine. Her research interests include research to improve the provision of education to patients, especially those with kidney disease to improve patient outcomes.
Kelly is an active member of the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) Renal Interest Group; the Australian New Zealand Society of Nephrology and the postgraduate Renal Nutrition Program. Kelly has presented her research at many national and international conferences.
Innovations developed as part of her research program include the Easy Diet Diary Renal app. This was developed as a collaboration between Xyris Software, Professor Grahame Elder and Kelly Lambert. See here for more details https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/easy-diet-diary-renal/id1007054961?mt=8
Research on the cost of eating gluten free suggests it is unaffordable for those who need it most
Coeliac disease is a gastrointestinal condition managed solely through a lifelong gluten-free diet, and affects one in 70 Australians. Carefully following a gluten-free diet is crucial in preventing complications such as bowel cancer, osteoporosis and infertility. However for Australian families with a member affected by coeliac disease, the expense of a gluten-free diet is an unavoidable reality. <br /><br />In the first research of its kind in Australia, we published a study that demonstrated that families could be paying up to 17 per cent more for a gluten–free diet and for some single gluten-free items as much as 500 per cent more. The study we published compared the cost of a basket of gluten-free healthy foods, with a traditional healthy food basket, among four different family types. We found that following a healthy gluten free diet was most expensive for nuclear families, single parent families and single young males – and was even more difficult for these family types receiving welfare payments. <br /><br />This research demonstrated that following a gluten-free diet was unaffordable for the majority of family types, and for most families receiving welfare payments in Australia. The research also documented a hefty mark-up for gluten-free staples, like bread and flour, compared with ‘regular’ foods. For example, gluten free items were between 316% (for wraps) and 574% (for flour) more expensive per 100g. <br /><br />The publicity generated by this research was extensive and generated significant discussion both online, on radio and on TV. This included discussions about the need for the federal government to consider a national subsidised medical foods program in Australia, similar to a model being used in England, so that people with coeliac disease can have better access to affordable gluten-free staple foods via prescription.
<p>The approach we took to understanding the impact of therapeutic diets on patients is novel. Although previous costing studies have been conducted on healthy eating in Australia, no studies had explored the real world impact of a common therapeutic diet on common family types in the Australian context. Impact data taken from the journal website indicates an Altmetric attention score of 74 which indicates the article is the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric.<br /><br />The results of our research prompted significant discussion and media attention around the implications of medically indicated gluten free diets. Data from the study was also used (but not acknowledged) in advocacy submissions by Coeliac UK to maintain price subsidisation for residents of numerous health boroughs in the United Kingdom (<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678181/report_of_responses_-_gluten_free_food_prescribing_consultation.pdf" title="PDF - Report of Responses Following the Public Consultation on Gluten Free Prescribing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Report of Responses Following the Public Consultation on Gluten Free Prescribing</a>). <br /><br />The Blackpool Clinical Commissioning group also quoted the Chief Executive of Coeliac UK ( who used but did not acknowledge the research findings about the cost of gluten free bread <a href="http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/health/coeliacs-told-to-eat-potatoes-instead-of-pizza-as-gluten-free-prescriptions-are-axed-1-8148476" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/health/coeliacs-told-to-eat-potatoes-instead-of-pizza-as-gluten-free-prescriptions-are-axed-1-8148476</a> ). <br /><br />Debate about the cost implications of the gluten free diet and on adherence were also debated in the British Medical Journal, one of the most prestigious medical journals published (BMJ 20172017;356:i6810 doi: 10.1136/bmj.i6810). <br /><br /><br /></p>
Beneficiary
Quantification
Description
Evidence
Description
Redesigning patient education materials to improve health outcomes
Patient education materials are widely used by health professionals to increase knowledge, facilitate behaviour change and reinforce key concepts. Unfortunately patients frequently find the patient educational materials used by dietitians to be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30259677" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confusing and contradictory.</a> This has been demonstrated to be related to<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29061163" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> treatment adherence</a>. This is especially important given the high rates of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27505310" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cognitive impairment</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26513027" target="_blank" rel="noopener">low health literacy </a>amongst patients seen by dietitians. <br /><br />One consequence of poorly designed patient education materials is that patients turn online to find diet information. This is problematic because the patient education materials found online are often <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28211108" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inaccurate </a>and not evidence based but are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29056159" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highly understandable and actionable.</a><br /><br />Guidance for dietitians about how to design effective printed educational materials is<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29968271" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> scarce</a>. To counter this, Kelly has embarked on a program of workshops to facilitate health professionals in this area. The first presentation at the Australasian Enteral and Parenteral Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2018, was considered highly valuable and feedback from more than 240 participants was that the guidance was immediately applicable. For example: <br /><br /><em>" 3 steps to making patient education truly patient centred by Dr Kelly Lambert... was most transferable into day to day practice"</em><br /><em><br />"Kelly Lambert's talk on patient education was practical and relevant to the here and now"<br /><br />"Kelly Lambert's session on patient education and information. Absolutely brilliant re readability, actionability and understandability"<br /><br /></em>Following this, an additional workshop was held with the Nutrition Education Materials Online group in Queensland. This website is widely used by QLD health professionals and is the central portal for health professional to access consensus based accurate printed dietary education materials for use in education with patients. The event was webcast to more than 30 sites. Feedback again was highly positive. <br /><br />Another event was held in Auckland New Zealand and webcast across the country. The workshop feedback from dietitians in New Zealand was also highly positive and has led to important practice change: "<em>Our clinical lead has told the team that anyone who is working on updating or making new diet sheets for our health board needs to view this presentation as a requirement. This was minuted in our meeting". </em>Similarly:<em> "The presentation was clear and easy to follow. It provided great insight as to what patients may take away from the information we provide. It also provided clear guidelines with additional resources to help improve. This is very useful information".<br /><br /><br /> </em>The research work has contributed to the scholarly literature and provided health professionals with practical advice for developing resources and education sessions targeted at patients<em><br /></em>
<strong>Impact and engagement at national level</strong><br />Presentation at Australasian Society for Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2018. This is the leading professional society for health professionals working in the area of enteral and parenteral nutrition. This includes nurses, Doctors and other allied health professionals. <br /><br /><p>In 2019, Kelly was invited by the Convenor of the NEMO (Nutrition Education Materials Online) website to workshop and train dietitians about how to improve the quality of the patient education materials provided to patients in Queensland. NEMO is the central point of contact and online warehouse for dietary education materials used by dietitians and other health professionals in Queensland. All patient education materials are also freely available for the public to download and use. The workshop has resulted in a revision to the quality assurance process that NEMO materials are developed and evaluated in order to improve the understandability, actionability and impact of materials. The workshop to <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/improving-our-patient-education-resources-workshop-tickets-64207362951" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queensland Health Dietitians </a>in June 2019 was webcast to more than 30 sites and more than 150 dietitians live.</p><br />Webinars to<a href="https://educationinnutrition.com.au/presentations?keywords=kelly+lambert&csrf_token=79e2b8ecaa8043267a91d9322659caa7bf2863fb" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Education in Nutrition, </a>a widely access professional development platform for dietitians in Australia and New Zealand<br /><br />Webinars to the <a href="https://www.renalnutritionprogram.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renal Nutrition Program participants</a><br /><br /><strong>Impact at international level<br /></strong>The research has attracted attention internationally resulting in invitations to present work <a href="https://educationinnutrition.com.au/presentations?keywords=kelly+lambert&csrf_token=79e2b8ecaa8043267a91d9322659caa7bf2863fb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">internationally, </a>i<a href="https://www.kidneynews.org/kidney-news/features/putting-kidney-diet-apps-to-the-test" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nterviews</a>, c<a href="https://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/clinjasn/14/4/491.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ommentaries </a>and a <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/clinician-researchers-initiative" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Health and Medical Translating Research into Practice Fellowship</a> to design, implement and evaluate a new health literacy sensitive model of renal dietetics care using health literacy tailored printed educational materials. <br /><strong><br /></strong>
Beneficiary
Quantification
Description
Evidence
Description
UOW funded app developed for people with kidney disease
<p>Using seed funding provided by the UOW Pitch competition, Kelly has developed a mobile application for people with kidney disease. The free app uses Australian food composition data and allows users to record their food intake as well as determine the energy, protein, fat, sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphate intake. The app also includes bar code scanning capabilities to enable users to analyse new foods in renal time. The app is the only one of its type available in the Australasian & Singapore app markets. It is ranked #33 in the Apple App store in the Medical app category (of which there are an estimated 47 526 apps as at January 2019). Feedback from users is overwhelmingly positive with an average rating 4.7 out of 5 stars. The app has been downloaded thousands of times. Feasibility testing has also confirmed that use of the app enhances motivation and patient adherence to the renal diet. </p>
AS an experienced renal dietitian, Kelly noted that there was strong demand from patients with kidney disease and their families for an app to record their dietary intake. There was also a need for patients and health professionals to access accurate food composition information related to their renal diet. As a result, a collaboration was formed between Kelly Lambert, Professor Grahame Elder (Nephrologist, Westmead Hospital, Sydney) and Xyris Software (the leading food composition technology provider in Australia). Using seed funding from the University of Wollongong and funding from Westmead Hospital, the Easy Diet Diary Renal app was developed. This app allows users to look up the composition of any food available in Australia or New Zealand (including fresh foods and bush tucker). Other features include the ability to look up food composition information using bar code scanning functionality on more than 50 000 foods; and to record and analyse daily food intake according to renal diet nutrient targets. <br /><br />The app was used in a feasibility clinical trial with 25 healthy subjects. The control group were asked to follow a standard renal diet following advice from a renal dietitian and provided with diet sheets. The intervention group received the app in addition to standard advice and materials. The results indicated that use of the app found the app convenient, easy to use, users referred to dietary information more frequently than the control group; learned more new information about the renal diet; were more motivated to maintain the diet and likely to recommend the app information to family or friends. Information about this trial has been published as: Elder GJ, Malik A, and <strong>Lambert K </strong>(2017) The role of dietary phosphate restriction in chronic kidney disease. <em>Nephrology</em>, Published online: 24 October 2017. [Epub ahead of print]; DOI: 10.1111/nep.13188. The results were also presented at the joint Australian New Zealand Society of Nephrology Annual Scientific Meeting / Asia Pacific Society of Nephrology Congress meeting in Perth, Australia in 2016. The proceedings are published as: <strong>Lambert K</strong>, Elder G, Xyris Software, Malik A (2016) Development and feasibility of a smartphone app using Australian food database information to monitor dietary phosphate, protein, sodium, calcium and potassium; Nephrology (2016): 21 (suppl S2): page 216-7 (160). <br /><br /><br />Since it's public release in 2017, the app has been downloaded thousands of times. User feedback from patients via the app store is highly positive. An Android version will be released in the near future due to public and health professional demand. Additional software features to support health professionals are also under development with the Xyris team due to ongoing positive feedback about it's use in everyday clinical practice.
Doctor of Philosophy,
University of Wollongong,
School of Medicine,
Thesis title:Exploring the challenges to dietary self-management adherence in end stage kidney disease: implications for clinical practice 2015 - 2018