Person-centred planning in education: an exploration of staff perceptions of using a person-centred framework in an alternative provision

Opportunities for children to be involved in the decisions made about them are part of current statutory educational legislation. Person-centred planning (PCP) has been proposed as an appropriate method of meeting statutory requirements to gather pupil views. However, young people within alternative provisions (APs) may lack opportunities to be heard. This paper reports on an action research project with staff from an AP for children at risk of exclusion. Participants opted to trial the use of the PCP approach 'Making Action Plans' ('MAPs';carried out virtually due to Covid19 restrictions) and evaluated the project through two focus groups. Findings indicate that (virtual) use of MAPs requires staff to carefully consider their setting's structure, needs, capacity and capabilities. Pre-meeting preparation and adapting the MAP process with technology improved engagement, access and alternative ways of working. The MAP process provided a range of positive outcomes as a by-product of its implementation.

Design and Implementation of a Low Cost, Open Access Digital Stethoscope for Social Distanced Medical Care and Tele Auscultation: Stethogram

As quality and availability of information and communication technologies infrastructure improved in urban and rural areas across the world, telemedicine is gaining more attention and momentum to improve healthcare delivery. However, tele auscultation, an essential part of clinical diagnosis, remains challenging due to several factors, including access to an affordable quality digital stethoscope for patients receiving care remotely. The COVID-19 pandemic has exhibited a similar challenge highlighting the need for a low-cost digital stethoscope used while donning personal protective equipment. Motivated by healthcare providers struggle to protect themselves and the patient during the COVID-19 pandemic and to address the challenges of caring for a patient remotely, we designed a low-cost digital stethoscope suitable for both the COVID-19 challenges and tele auscultation based on standard smartphone, off-the-shelf components, open-source 3D-printed parts and tool-free assembly. We present the result of a fully functional digital stethoscope smartphone attachment successfully developed at the cost of approximately $20 and evaluated by participating clinicians. © 2021 ACM.