In August of 2005, AORN conducted its annual survey on perioperative nursing compensation. The research initiative has two objectives: to track compensation on an annual basis and to keep members apprised of the status of perioperative nursing compensation and the factors that influence how much perioperative nurses currently are paid in the United States.

RESPONDENT PROFILE

For the second consecutive year, the survey was conducted via an online questionnaire. An e-mail invitation to participate in the survey was sent to 22,050 potential respondents in early August 2005. These individuals included 17,250 AORN members and 4,800 nonmembers who are perioperative RNs, managers, and educators and who have active e-mail addresses. By the end of August, 3,100 individuals had submitted completed surveys, and 2,394 individuals met the inclusion criteria (ie, an 11% net response rate). Among these respondents, 38% are staff nurses, 29% are nurse managers, 9.5% are directors or vice presidents (VPs), and 7.5% are in education/staff development (Figure 1).

The largest segment of respondents are between 50 and 59 years of age (ie, 39.1% compared to 36.5% in 2004). Thirty-six percent are between 40 and 49 years of age compared to 39.3% in 2004, and 16% are between 30 and 39 years of age compared to 14.5% in 2004. A total of 5% of the respondents are between 60 and 69 years of age, which is the same percentage as in 2004. About 4.9% of the respondents are younger than 30 years of age compared to 4.3% last year.

Approximately 89% of the respondents are female; 11% are male. Regarding compensation, 63.1% are paid on an hourly basis, and 36.9% are salaried employees.

Respondents represent all regions of the United States with approximately 58% of the responses coming from the Eastern half of the United States. The three most represented regions are

* the East North Central region (ie, 17%), which includes Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio;

* the South Atlantic region (ie, 16.2%), which includes West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida; and

* the Mid-Atlantic region (ie, 13.8%), which includes New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington, DC (Table 1).

About 83% of the respondents reside in an urban or suburban area; 17.3% live in a rural area.

Regarding education,

* more than one third of the respondents (36%) have a bachelor of science in nursing degree;