Employees who park in areas designated for patient parking are causing increasing difficulty for those seeking care in VUMC’s hospitals and clinics to find available parking in a timely manner. Not only does this cause additional stress for patients, but downstream consequences can also result in delays in check-ins and appointments.
All employees who park on campus while at work should have a valid parking permit and park in the proper designated area.
“Some employees are parking in spaces designated for patients,” said Jason Bucher, director of Parking and Transportation Services for VUMC. “People who do so are at risk for getting a ticket, of course, but beyond that, patients are inconvenienced, and patient care may even be harmed.”
“Sometimes the Central and East garages are completely full,” Bucher said. He added that clinics have reported patients being late for appointments, or even missing appointments altogether, due to an inability to find a place to park — often after driving around looking for more than half an hour.
While patients usually regularly come and go over the course of a day for appointments, meaning that a parking space can be used several times, if an employee parks in a place, the car is typically there all day — depriving several patients of an opportunity to park.
VUMC employees who are coming to a medical appointment may use patient spaces but should move their vehicle when the appointment is completed, Bucher said.
“The parking situation in the Central and East garages is made much worse by employees parking in patient spaces,” Bucher said. “We’re reminding employees to avoid doing that.”
Adherence to VUMC’s parking policies, using assigned parking spaces for employee parking, follows Credo behavior to make those we serve our highest priority.