Amany Farag, PhD, RN, associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Nursing, is the recipient of an American Nurses Association 2025 Innovation Award, American Nurses Enterprise announced today. The Innovation Awards highlight, recognize, and celebrate exemplary nurse innovators who improve patient safety and health outcomes within their communities. Farag received the Individual Nurse Award, and the Nurse-led Team Award was given to Sheridan Miyamoto, PhD, RN, FAAN, of Penn State.
“Dr. Miyamoto and Dr. Farag are making substantial impacts for the communities they serve,” said ANE Vice President of Innovation, Oriana Beaudet, DNP, RN, FAAN. “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. We look forward to seeing how their respective programs scale nationally and globally.”
The idea for Farag’s innovation was born after she learned that many schools don’t have a designated nurse, the majority of medications in schools are administered by unlicensed personnel, and those personnel are associated high medication error rates.
“Medication safety technology has historically been developed for hospitals and acute care settings, leaving schools—particularly those in rural or low-resourced areas—without adequate solutions,” says Farag. “School nurses often manage complex medication regimens with limited staffing and resources, making it critical to adapt technology to meet their unique needs.”
Using her research background in medication safety, Farag modified best practices from the hospital environment and developed the electronic school medication administration record system known as eSMAR. This system uses fingerprint scanning and barcoding to verify both students and medication, alerts the administering professional of a discrepancy, and notifies the administering professional if the student misses the medication dose to facilitate prompt follow-up and communication.
Farag is currently pilot testing the eSMAR in four Iowa City area schools and collecting usability data to refine the system as needed. She will soon integrate the system with the electronic platform of Iowa City Community School District, which she anticipates will help with the sustainability and scalability efforts. The development and pilot testing of eSMAR is primarily funded by an R-18 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The additional Innovation Award money will help cover expenses outside of the grant, such as marketing, communication and outreach activities, and additional system refinement after the grant ends.
“Winning this innovation award from a prestigious national nursing organization such as the ANE is an incredible honor and a testament to the importance of the work I am doing,” says Farag. “This recognition highlights the pressing need for solutions that ensure safe and efficient medication administration, empowering school nurses and staff to provide better care. It also underscores the impact of research-driven innovations in addressing real-world healthcare challenges.
This award is just the beginning. My goal is to provide a scalable solution that can be integrated into schools with minimal burden. Broader adoption will require policy support and funding to ensure equitable implementation across all school settings. I look forward to finding funding solutions to expand the system, train school staff, and ensure long-term adoption, as well as working with stakeholders to push for systemic changes that support school nurses and improve student health outcomes.”
Dr. Farag is grateful for the support from her interdisciplinary research collaborators Dr. Ann Marie McCarthy, Dr. Hans Johnson, Dr. Heather Reisinger, Dr. Amber Goedken, Dr. Priyadarshini R and Dr. Yong Chen. She would like to thank her project coordinator Jill Colbert and Brandon Egger, graduate student in engineering, for all his work on the eSMAR system development.
Read the ANE press release here.