Engaging Students in Resolution Writing By Sharon Guthrie , Jodee Reed , and Marshall Muehlbauer
Politics and changing policies at the local , state , or national levels can be scary for nurses , nursing faculty , and students because of the many rules , regulations , and policy language that can be difficult to understand . Learning about the policy change process and getting involved in modifying policy is important for nurses to help advocate for patients , organizations , and the healthcare system .
Nursing faculty have a duty to help students understand and get involved in the policy process . Resolutions are one way to introduce nursing students to policy formation and the change process for effective patient advocacy . Resolution writing through the National Students Nurses Association ( NSNA ) can familiarize students with the importance and mechanics of this process . If you have students who are willing to write a resolution , embark on the challenge with your students as you guide and support them . This article describes the process of helping students write a resolution , an extracurricular activity that brings awareness and consensus to issues and is the first step in changing policy and shaping healthcare reform .
Resolution Writing Process : Getting Started The first step in student resolution writing is finding students who want to get involved and getting them excited to take on changing policy . Once students see a faculty role model show excitement and share challenges and successes , it does not take long for students to become excited about the policy process . Fostering and encouraging the involvement of students across all academic levels in the nursing program helps to build experience and knowledge to assume leadership in future years . It is also important that faculty and students are familiar with the
NSNA Resolution Guidelines and
process to submit a resolution . A resolution has two major parts : whereas statements and resolved statements . Whereas statements include the research to support the resolution ; the resolved statements include the recommended actions to address the problem presented as supported in the whereas statements ( National Student Nurses ’ Association , 2021 ).
Timeline for Resolution Writing and Submission The following is a sample timeline used to engage and assist students in the resolution development and writing process for a Spring NSNA convention :
Idea Identification : April to August Identifying a resolution writing team leader and a small group of students before summer break is important so the group can periodically communicate about possible resolution topics . Over the summer , the resolution writing team leader should communicate with group members two to three times to prompt the ongoing development of a list of possible resolution topics . The emerging list of possible resolution topics can easily be communicated among students using a shared drive . Additional ways for students to identify possible resolution topics include asking nursing faculty and the nursing department chair or dean for possible resolution topics . Students may also consider current health topics or issues in the media . Using a document on a shared , the team leader and group members can combine ideas that are similar , identify themes in topics and ideas , and remove ideas that have been presented at regional or national conferences in the last five years . Students are encouraged to place their initials after each idea .
Once topics are proposed , each group member should participate in narrowing the topics through an online survey platform . All members need to vote for their preferred resolution topic ( s ). The topic ( s ) that have the highest number of votes is then chosen as the focus of the group . Group members should then be asked to rank their preference of topic between 1 ( indicating highest preference ) and 5 ( lowest preference ). Topic preference is used to determine teams . If a member ’ s first choice did not become the topic for the year , the next highest preference is used . The team should be divided into equal groups if more than one topic is chosen .
Topic Research and Literature Review : August The resolution writing team leader should determine a mutual student and faculty group meeting time for the resolution writing team . Once the resolution topic has been confirmed , the students will conduct a systemic literature search . With the help of faculty , the resolution writing team should be able to identify key literature search words and divide up the literature searching process amongst team members .
Students should follow the NSNA Resolution guidelines that advise citing articles published in professional publications less than five years old . It is helpful if faculty encourage students to track the literature data bases and search terms used when identifying
43