In today’s episode, Chase DiMarco talks with William Davis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at California Northstate University College of Health Sciences. Together they discuss the role of technology in medical education, how to improve the scope of disciplines included in teaching and improving the patient/practitioner relationship. Students sometimes come to study medicine expecting they won’t need social sciences. This leads to a discussion about the need to expand educational boundaries. William says there should be an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to teaching between departments to allow an integrated teaching approach. Due to the nature of the MCAT, William believes that students focus only on a very narrow spectrum of learning. This can lead to a flattening of patients, reducing them to charts as opposed to the three-dimensional people they are. There is a need for communication between educational tiers, which William breaks down. A greater efforts to understand other departments and disciplines to create a more rounded teaching approach is ideal. There is not one solution for expanding communication but there should be a balance between standardisation and individuality. William and Chase go on to talk about the patient care setting in Health 2.0. They discuss the use of scribes in a medical setting and how saleable and reliable it can be. Is it worth the trade offs to create better patient/physician relationships? Staying on the topic of technology, William and Chase end the episode by discussing how to successfully create online learning spaces. Both agree that interactivity and attention to course design are paramount to overcome the danger of passive learning. William hopes that this is a conversation that can continue and that educators can take into account what students want and need. Find Williams’ article here: A Gathering Crowd: Intelligence and Medicine Contact William here: William.Davis@cnsu.edu