RESOLUTIONS 101
What is a Resolution? A resolution is a statement by an organization taking a stand on a specific
issue of concern to its members. When you prepare a resolution, you are asking the MNSA to support
your solution to an issue that you have identified and researched.
Why Should I Write a Proposed Resolution? Because you can make a difference about something
you care about, you can become a published author while you are in nursing school, and you can get
experience defending your position in front of your peers. Your resolution will also have a permanent
place in MNSA history.
How Do I Write A Resolution Because I Have No Idea What To Do? See Steps 1-4
STEP ONE: What’s The Problem? What is a nursing or healthcare issue that has affected you or
someone you know so much that you want to do something about it?
Example: Suppose that you had a friend who had a surgery and she told you that watching “Keeping
Up With The Kardashians” eliminated her need for pain medication because it numbed her brain.
However, you found out that hospital systems across the country were going to block the show
because too many nurses found their patients in a comatose state while the show was on. You
believe that the greater good done by the show outweighs any comas and that the show should be
available to patients because of its pain-relieving qualities.
STEP TWO: What’s Your Solution? What course of action do you think would help solve the
problem you laid out in Step One?
Example: You decide that people having a surgery like your friend’s should be able to watch the
Kardashian show if they want to bcause it is a non-pharmacological pain management intervention.
STEP THREE: Why Should Anyone Believe You About Step One or Step Two? Find legitimate
research to back up what you said in Steps One and Two. There aren’t any “minimum” number of
sources that you need, but remember that you’ll need to defend what you say.
Example: You find out that 3 studies done in the last year by the National Institutes of Health show
that watching the Kardashian show resulted in pain-free recoveries for 60% of patients who
underwent your friend’s surgery.
STEP FOUR: How Do I Put All This Together? The MNSA and the NSNA have many resources
available to you online, but you can start out by just sending an e-mail to the First Vice-President of
the MNSA. That is the person responsible for handling resolutions that are voted on at the National
Convention.
Example: You send the MNSA First Vice-President an e-mail reporting your exciting findings and
asking for help putting together your resolution . . . details to follow!