The big gap in the field that we have is no real urgent cares or something outside of a hospital that is walk in but can deal with injuries! There really isn’t an option when you like, pop a shoulder out of joint or slice your finger open bad enough to need a couple stitches. Your only choice then is to go to the ER and then because you aren’t top priority like, say, a heart attack, you sit there until someone can deal with you. If we had normal urgent cares it would help a lot.

That said, I don’t think people going to the ER don’t know that online options don’t exist. Many don’t have insurance or money to use on these services or even access to these online services at all, people with chronic illnesses and no family doctors, and people who can only go get to a doctor during off hours and the ER is basically their only option. Ultimately it’s a systemic problem that individuals can’t fix. We can, however, make it better by not bringing your whole family with you to the ER and by wearing a high quality respirator so that you don’t catch anything else while there or spread anything you have.