Results of the 2020 AORN Salary and Compensation Survey.

AORN conducted its 18th annual compensation survey for perioperative nurses in June 2020. A multiple regression model was used to examine how several variables, including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region, affect perioperative nurse compensation. Comparisons between the 2020 data and data from previous years are presented. The effects of other forms of compensation (eg, on-call compensation, overtime, bonuses, shift differentials, benefits) on total compensation are also examined. Additional analyses explore the current state of the nursing shortage, sources of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and the effects of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic.

Results of the 2019 AORN Salary and Compensation Survey.

AORN conducted its 17th annual compensation survey for perioperative nurses in June 2019. A multiple regression model was used to examine how several variables, including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region, affect perioperative nurse compensation. Comparisons between the 2019 data and data from previous years are presented. The effects of other forms of compensation (eg, on-call compensation, overtime, bonuses, shift differentials, benefits) on total compensation also are examined. Additional analyses explore the current state of the nursing shortage and the sources of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

Results of the 2016 AORN Salary and Compensation Survey.

AORN conducted its 14th annual compensation survey for perioperative nurses in June 2016. A multiple regression model was used to examine how several variables, including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region, affect nurse compensation. Comparisons between the 2016 data and data from previous years are presented. The effects of other forms of compensation (eg, on-call compensation, overtime, bonuses, shift differentials, benefits) on base compensation rates also are examined. Additional analyses explore the effect of the economic downturn on the perioperative work environment.

Results of the 2010 AORN Salary and Compensation Survey.

AORN conducted its eighth annual compensation survey for perioperative nurses in June and July 2010. A multiple regression model was used to examine how a number of variables, including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region, affect nurse compensation. Comparisons between the 2010 data and data from previous years are presented. The effects of other forms of compensation, such as on-call compensation, overtime, bonuses, and shift differentials, on base compensation rates are also examined. Additional analyses explore the effect of the current economic downturn on the perioperative work environment.

Results of the 2008 AORN Salary Survey.

AORN conducted its sixth annual compensation survey for perioperative nurses in August of 2008. A multiple regression model was used to examine how a variety of variables including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region affect nursing compensation. Comparisons between the 2008 and previous years' data are presented. The effects of other forms of compensation, such as on-call compensation, overtime, bonuses, and shift differentials on average base compensation rates also are examined.

The balancing act: patient care time versus cost.

BACKGROUND: With demands to improve patients' clinical outcomes and decrease the escalating costs of inpatient care, nurse executives are focusing on how nurses spend their time rather than just raising staffing levels to positively impact patient outcomes. Because nursing wages constitute a high proportion of a hospital's budget, understanding the costs of nursing activities is critical to managing them. METHODS: An activity-based costing approach was used in 14 medical-surgical nursing units to study nursing activities and their related costs. Time use for 4 patient care activities (assess, teach, treat, provide psychosocial support) and 2 support activities (coordinate care and manage clinical records) including the percent of non-value-added (NVA) time for each of these activities was identified through focus groups, interviews, and timed observations. Annualized wage costs were assigned to these activities to determine average wage-related costs of each activity as well as NVA-related costs. RESULTS: More than one-third of nurses' time was considered NVA, averaging dollars 757,000 per nursing unit in wage costs annually. Nurses spent more time on support activities (56%) than in providing patient care (44%), with the least amount of time being spent on patient teaching and psychosocial support. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate a huge opportunity to both improve clinical outcomes in these units and, at the same time, reduce costs by focusing on processes to reduce the high amount time spent performing NVA and support activities and increase patient care time, particularly patient teaching and psychosocial support.

Results of the 2007 AORN Salary Survey.

AORN conducted its fifth annual compensation survey for perioperative nurses in August of 2007. A multiple regression model was used to examine how a variety of variables including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region affect nursing compensation. Comparisons between 2007 and previous years' data also are presented. The effects of other forms of compensation, such as on-call compensation, overtime, bonuses, and shift differentials on average base compensation rates are examined.

The revenue cycle: what it is, how it works, and how to enhance it.

Understanding the revenue cycle process helps perioperative personnel and managers improve health care charging practices and enables them to make informed policy decisions. Integrating knowledge of the revenue cycle processes throughout an organization can improve reimbursement, improve compliance with reporting requirements, reduce payer denials, and decrease rework by staff members. This article provides information to develop a basic understanding of the revenue cycle and makes suggestions on how to improve this process in health care organizations.

Results of the 2006 AORN salary survey: trends for perioperative nursing.

AORN CONDUCTED ITS ANNUAL compensation survey for perioperative nurses in August 2006. MULTIPLE REGRESSION MODEL was used to examine how a variety of variables, including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region, affect nursing compensation. THIS SURVEY ALSO EXAMINES the effect of other forms of compensation (eg, on-call compensation, overtime, bonuses, shift differential) on average base compensation rates.

Return on investment for a perioperative nurse fellowship.

In 1998, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Va, implemented a perioperative nurse fellowship program to train nurses to fill a large number of vacancies in Inova ORs. The educators at Inova did not have data to determine whether the program was cost-effective, so they conducted an analysis of the program's return on investment (ROI). This article reviews the steps they took to ascertain the program's costs and benefits. Computing ROI presented a clear financial rationale for the creation and maintenance of the periopeative nurse fellowship program.

The 2004 AORN Salary Survey--trends among perioperative nurses.

Estimating average compensation of perioperative nurses can be complicated because of nurses' unique workplace situations. For this salary survey, a multiple regression model was used to examine how a number of variables, including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region, affect nursing compensation. In addition, this survey examines the effects of other forms of compensation (eg, overtime, shift differential, on-call compensation) on average base compensation rates.

Salary and staffing surveys help estimate compensation and future trends.

CALCULATING COMPENSATION for perioperative nurses can be complicated because of their unique workplace situations. THIS SALARY SURVEY uses a multiple regression model to examine how a variety of variables, including job title, education, certification, experience, and geographic region, affect of other forms of compensation (eg, overtime, shift differential, on-call compensation) on average base compensation rates.

Optimizing second shift OR staffing.

In surgical suites when ORs sometimes run late, nurse anesthetists or perioperative nurses may be scheduled to work a second shift to cover procedures. Nurse anesthetists' OR workload in the afternoons can differ from that of perioperative nurses. At the end of long procedures, times to transport and stabilize patients can be considerable. This article shows that optimal second-shift OR staffing is the same for nurse anesthetists and perioperative nurses when assessed using anesthesia billing data and OR information systems data respectively. Managers do not need hospital information systems staff members to provide data from both anesthesia billing and OR information systems to make second-shift staffing decisions. One or the other is adequate.

Making sense of the agenda for change. Modernising the NHS pay system.

The government has announced its intention to reorganise the pay structure of the NHS. Three years on from the launch of the initiative, NATN Professional Officer, John Beesley, explains why the government decided on the undertaking, its implications for perioperative practitioners, and why nurses need to make their views and opinions known.