Alison Lyles

After graduating with a BSc (hons) in Pharmacology from Edinburgh University, I continued my training, obtaining MSc in Dietetics from Queen Margaret University in 2007. Since then, I have worked in acute adult dietetics within NHS Tayside and NHS Lothian in a variety of clinical specialty areas including: care of the elderly, general surgery, gastroenterology and oncology. Latterly, this has focused on dietetics within the area of Renal Medicine. This is a complex area of dietetic practice which incorporates chronic disease management alongside behavioural change skills to educate and empower patients and their carers to make appropriate dietary modifications whilst ensuring nutritional adequacy.

In clinical practice, I have been heavily involved the supervision of Dietetic student practice placements alongside delivery of medical student teaching to level 2 students at Edinburgh University. I have also participated in a variety of quality improvement activities such as clinical audit (examining the monitoring of water soluble vitamins and trace element levels in haemodialysis patients) and case-study presentations surrounding bariatric surgery and renal disease. Latterly, I have been involved in the peer review of the National Dietary patient Resources for renal dietary education which has involved a review of evidence-based practice alongside thorough consideration of health literacy.