Getting Here

Emergency Department
505 Parnassus Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94143
Phone: (415) 353-1037
Physician Referrals: (415) 353-1238

The Emergency Department has state-of-the-art diagnostic tools and provides specialized care not available 24 hours a day at many community emergency departments. Specialty services for complex medical problems include:

• Computed Tomography Imaging (CT Scan) — The CT scanner in the Emergency Department can produce detailed images of several types of tissue, such as lung, bone, soft tissue and blood vessels, to diagnose problems such as cancers, infectious disease, trauma and musculoskeletal disorders. The CT scan is a method of body imaging involving a thin X-ray beam that rotates around the patient. Small detectors measure the X-rays and a computer analyzes the data to construct a cross-sectional image. These images can be stored, viewed on a monitor or printed on film.
• Catheterization Lab and Emergency Angioplasty — If a patient complains of chest pain, he or she is immediately evaluated with an electrocardiogram. If a heart attack is diagnosed, the patient is quickly evaluated by a cardiologist and may be sent to our catheterization lab for evaluation and possible treatment by an interventional radiologist. A catheterization lab is a specialized radiology suite where cardiac catheterization is performed. In the case of a heart attack, arteries flowing to the heart are examined. If an artery is obstructed, a procedure is performed through a catheter to open the artery and reestablish blood flow to the heart.
• Stroke Consultations — Those suffering from acute strokes are evaluated by neurologists for emergency treatment. Consultations by a neurologist for stroke patients are available 24 hours daily. Treatments, such as thrombolytic therapy, also are available. Thrombolytics, known as "clot busters," are medications that break up or dissolve blood clots, the main cause of heart attacks and stroke. The Neurovascular Disease and Stroke Center at UCSF Medical Center has been certified by the national Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations as a primary stroke center, the first hospital in San Francisco to receive this designation.

Parking at Parnassus

Public parking for an hourly fee at UCSF Medical Center is available in the seven-level Millberry Union Garage at 500 Parnassus Ave. There are two garage entrances — one on the north side of Parnassus Avenue and another on Irving Street, just east of Third Avenue.

Another garage with an hourly fee, at 350 Parnassus Ave., is open Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Metered street parking is rarely available.

Patients being admitted to the hospital may be dropped off at the circular driveway leading to the main entrance at 505 Parnassus Ave. This area also may be used to pick up patients who are being discharged.

For more information about parking at Parnassus, call Campus Parking Services at 476-2566.

Valet Parking Service

Valet parking service is available at the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) at 400 Parnassus Ave. from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The valet service is free but patients must pay regular parking fees. For more information about the valet service, call (415) 476-6200.

A UCSF "greeter" also is available at the ACC from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to assist patients find their way.

Public Transportation

Parnassus

UCSF Medical Center is accessible via Muni streetcar line N-Judah*, which stops at Second Avenue and Irving Street, and the following Muni bus lines, which stop in front of the hospital:

• 43-Masonic*
• 6-Parnassus

For more information about Muni visit, www.sfmuni.com.

* Wheelchair accessible bus routes