The 2004 AORN salary survey: trends among perioperative nurses

AORN Journal,  Dec, 2004  by Donald Bacon

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The AORN compensation survey results reported in the December 2003 issue of the AORN Journal generated such interest among AORN members that an updated survey was completed this year. AORN plans to conduct the survey on an annual basis.

AORN partnered with Rocky Mountain Market Research, Denver, again this year to conduct the survey. The results are similar to last year's findings in many respects, and differences in compensation again were found to be associated with differences in job title, region, experience, facility size, education, certification, facility type, and gender. This year's findings go beyond last year's results, however, by identifying the relationship between compensation and the percentage of time a nurse or manager spends in direct patient care and whether the workplace is located in an urban, suburban, or rural setting, for example. Including these variables in the analysis makes this year's results more accurate than last year's findings.

RESPONDENT PROFILE

Although last year's survey was a mailed questionnaire, this year's survey was conducted online. An invitation to participate in the survey was sent via e-mail to 18,930 AORN members in mid-August, and by the end of that month, 3,141 surveys had been completed for a 17% response rate. Of those responses, 2,508 (13%) met the inclusion criteria. The survey found that among these respondents, 36% are staff nurses, 28% are nurse managers, and 11% are directors or vice presidents (Figure 1). Based on this sample size, the percentages reported here are precise to within 2% at a 95% confidence level.

The average age of respondents in this year's survey is similar to the average age in last year's survey. Most respondents (ie, 39.3%) are between 40 and 49 years of age, followed closely by respondents in the 50 to 59 years age group (ie, 36.5%). Only 4.3% of respondents are younger than 30 years of age.

The geographic distribution of the respondents also is similar to that in last year's survey. More than half of the respondents are from the Eastern half of the United States. The three most prominently represented regions are the South Atlantic region (ie, 17.4%), which includes West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida; the East North Central region (ie, 16.4%), which includes Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; and the Mid-Atlantic region (ie, 13.6%), which includes New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington, DC (Table 1).

The most commonly held degree among respondents is a bachelor of science in nursing degree (ie, 35.1%), followed by an associate's degree (ie, 24.6%) and a diploma (ie, 15.7%). Figure 2 contains more respondent demographic information.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

COMPENSATION

An analysis of the compensation data reveals that differences in job title again were associated with the largest differences in compensation. For example, staff nurses in the sample reported earning an average of $54,600, and vice presidents or directors reported earning an average of $87,000. Titles, however, do not tell the full story about an employee's responsibilities. This year, respondents were asked to estimate the percentage of time they spend providing direct patient care. As expected, nurses reported spending most of their time delivering care (ie, 86% of their time on average); nurse managers reported spending much less time delivering care (ie, 36% of their time on average); and directors and vice presidents reported spending the least amount of time delivering direct patient care (ie, 14% of their time on average). There was substantial variation of responsibilities within each job title, however. Some of the nurse managers reported spending as much time on patient care as some staff nurses, and other nurse managers reported spending as little time on direct patient care as some directors. These and other variables were analyzed to create a model that would offer the best estimates of compensation for careers in perioperative nursing.

MULTIPLE REGRESSION

Due to the multiplicity of factors that affect compensation and the complex interactions among these factors, multiple regression analysis was used to generate estimates of compensation. The multiple regression model allows researchers to estimate the effects of one variable on compensation while holding other variables constant. This year, the regression analysis included a preliminary chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) analysis. In this analysis, some variables were found to have different effects on different job titles. For example, the size of a facility has a more dramatic effect on a manager's compensation than it does on a staff nurse's compensation.

Insights gained from the CHAID analysis were applied to the multiple regression analysis. This led to a model that explains 57% of the variation in base compensation. All regression results reported here are significant at the .05 level or better, except where noted. Readers interested in exact estimates of compensation for any particular nursing position can use the compensation calculator available on AORN Online at http://www.aorn.org/Careers.