Social medicine has two components: social determinants of health (SDOH) and issues that can serve as a direct cause of illness, injury, and death. Substance abuse and addiction, and interpersonal violence, are two examples. Many patients who present to the emergency department (ED) with social medicine issues often have a concurrent observable diagnosis for which they can be placed in an ED observation unit (OU), often with their social medicine protocol being secondary to their primary reason for observation. Often patients who present to EDs with complaints related to social medicine issues do not require admission, but discharging them may present a risk in terms of recidivism and repeat visits. ED OUs can provide value by allowing for the engagement of appropriate resources for patients with social medicine-related issues in a slower-paced setting that allows for a more detailed assessment as well as a warm handoff to specialty navigators.