Nursing CE Central
Two nurse innovators are leading efforts to reduce health inequities related to medication distribution at school and sexual assault in rural communities.
Sheridan Miyamoto, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Amany Farag, PhD, RN, were recently announced as winners of the 2025 American Nurse Enterprise Innovation Awards for their work in these niche areas. They received $25,000 and $50,000, respectively, to further their research.
ANE Vice President of Innovation Oriana Beaudet, DNP, RN, FAAN, said both practitioners are making “substantial impacts” in the communities they serve.
“Their innovations address system needs that exist in every community across our country by bringing high quality care to those in moments of crisis and need,” Beaudet stated in a news release.
Miyamoto’s Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Telehealth (SAFE-T) System uses a telehealth model to connect providers in rural and underserved areas with sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE).
During a Penn State “Ask the Experts” event, Miyamoto said research shows that rates of sexual assault are higher in rural communities. She attributed that to “enhanced stressors” in those areas.
“Generally, a lack of education or lower educational attainment, lower socioeconomic status, people experience lots of stress when they don’t have job opportunities,” said Miyamoto, an associate professor of nursing at Penn State. “Some of those very real factors often correlate to different levels of family violence and sexual violence.”
The system, which already has been implemented in six health systems, follows best practices for conducting SANE exams and collecting evidence. It was launched in 2017, and last January Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed into law a measure that uses the SAFE-T System to expand access to SANEs.
In an interview with her alma mater shortly after the product’s launch, Miyamoto shared that one nurse she recruited was ready to quit.
“She told me the hope of this program is her lifeline. That’s powerful,” she said. “No one tells these nurses that the work they’re doing is important. They need to know this emotionally burdensome work, done by many in isolation, is championed and really matters.”
Miyamoto heads the group of nursing, forensic science, and healthcare policy professionals that earned ANE’s Nurse-lead Team Award.
Farag, an associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Nursing, created the electronic school medication administration record (eSMAR). The system, designed for K-12 schools, uses fingerprint scanning technology and barcoding to verify a student’s identity and what medications they take. If there’s a discrepancy, the system will alert the professional administering the medication to the student.
“Nurses’ offices are busy and chaotic,” Farag stated in a 2023 University of Iowa news story, “and inevitably there are a multitude of distractions and disruptions during medication administration. These can cause medication errors because we are human and we are error prone. Hopefully this system will provide an added safety layer.”
An Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality grant issued in 2023 allowed Farag and her team to implement the eSMAR system in “a select sample of K-12 schools” in the Iowa City Community School District for an 18-month period. The goal, according to Farang, is to produce a “scalable solution” that schools can easily implement.
However, she noted that widespread use “will require policy support and funding.”
American Nurses Enterprise recently announced the recipients of its 2025 Innovation Awards. Sheridan Miyamoto, PhD, RN, FAAN, received the nurse-led team award and $25,000 for her work of increasing access to sexual assault nurse examiners in rural communities. Amany Farag, PhD, RN, received the individual nurse award and $50,000 for her work in establishing a medication system for K-12 schools that would decrease the number of medication errors, regardless of who administers the medication.
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