Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) nursing professor Melody Bethards of Madrid has been selected through competitive application for the year-long Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators. Bethards was chosen with 20 other nurses from across the United States for this honor by The National League for Nursing (NLN).

The program that Bethards has joined is designed for those interested in assuming a leadership role in the research or administration of simulation programs in nursing education. The nurses will study under the direction of Dr. Pamela Jeffries. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles, is a professor in the Department of Health Systems and Outcomes and associate dean for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

“The NLN’s Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators has proven to be a demanding and valuable learning experience that I’m sure Melody will have success being a part of and be as beneficial for the program as she has been at DMACC,” said DMACC’s Academic Dean of Health and Public Services Sally Schroeder. 

Bethards has been a faculty member of the DMACC Nursing Program since 2002. In 2008, she took the lead to implement simulated clinical experiences for all nursing students at DMACC by first incorporating simulated clinical experience into the classroom and coordinating the development of a Simulation Committee. In addition, as the Clinical Simulation Liaison, she coordinated simulated clinical experiences for the practical nursing students on the Ankeny campus and she facilitated a partnership with Des Moines University.

In 2011, Melody accepted the newly developed full-time position of Simulation Coordinator at DMACC. Her responsibilities include assisting faculty/adjuncts in the development, implementation and integration of simulation activities for nursing students on the Ankeny, Boone, Carroll, Newton and Urban campuses. Melody is currently facilitating the expansion of the DMACC Nursing Simulation Laboratory located in the Iowa Building in downtown Des Moines to include EMS, Respiratory and other DMACC Health and Public Services programs.

“Melody has taken our simulation experiences to a new level at DMACC,” said Dr. Vickie Barth, Director of Nursing Education at DMACC. “The simulation activities that she provides to our students, enables our program to be on the cutting edge of simulation”. 

Dr. Barth says, because of all Bethard’s simulated clinical experience, she will make a good addition with the 20 other nurse educators for the Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators.