ANKENY, Iowa—Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Nursing Professor and Nursing Simulation Coordinator Melody Bethards has been awarded the Iowa Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) Postsecondary Educator of the Year award. This award recognizes career and technical teachers and teacher educators who have demonstrated excellence and best practices in career and technical education at the postsecondary level. Members employed as full-time postsecondary CTE teachers or teacher educators are eligible recipients of this award.
Bethards has been a nursing faculty member at DMACC for the past 15 years.
DMACC Nursing Director Kendra Ericson, who nominated Bethards for the award, said Bethards has been a long-time advocate for advancing student learning through the use of simulation education.
“Melody is involved at the national, state and local level of simulation education and has developed a premier simulation center at DMACC that encompasses interdisciplinary education and focuses on preparing health students for practice,” said Ericson. “Melody has facilitated several innovative experiential learning experiences to help prepare DMACC students for healthcare careers. Along with other passionate educators, Melody was a founding member of the Des Moines Area Interprofessional Education Collaborative (DMAIPEC). The DMAIPEC is a collaboration of healthcare disciplines from five central Iowa universities and colleges representing healthcare disciplines including, but not limited to: nursing, pharmacy, physician assistant, physical therapy and medical residences. The aim of the DMAIPEC is to promote students’
Understanding of health disciplines while working in an interdisciplinary team approach to improve patient outcomes.”
Bethards is the co-founder and past chair of the Des Moines Area Simulation Network, past chair of the Iowa Community College Simulation Coordinators Network and currently serves as the chair of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare Nursing Section.
Bethards was a National League for Nursing Health Information Technology (HITS) Scholar and a member of the 2011 National League for Nursing Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators. She presents at local, state and national simulation conferences and has published simulation education-related articles. Bethards received the 2014 Non-research Article of the Year Award from the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation for Learning.
Last April, Bethards coordinated a multiple vehicle accident simulation using students from four DMACC campuses and five programs to test their critical thinking skills during an emergency situation. She is coordinating a repeat of the event scheduled for this coming April.
(contributed article, DMACC)
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