Dr. Penn served for 43 years as Medical Director for the Department of Healthcare Epidemiology & Infection Prevention at Omaha’s Methodist Hospital.
Dr. Penn also provided infection prevention services for certain entities within the Nebraska Methodist Health System. He served Methodist in this way from 1981 until stepping down in 2024. Dr. Penn also served as Medical Director of the Department of Epidemiology at Childrens’ Hospital from 1981 to 1993, and at Methodist-Richard Young Hospital from 1988 to 2003. Dr. Penn is a Fellow of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
Healthcare epidemiology involves strategies to protect patients from acquiring infections while in the hospital.
In recent years the management of multidrug-resistant organisms in the healthcare setting has become a significant challenge.
Antimicrobial stewardship focuses on limiting adverse drug reactions and the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms.
ID Specialists who oversee infection-control and antibiotic stewardship are uniquely positioned to help hospitals focus on quality of care while also reducing unnecessary costs and number of hospital stays.