2007 AORN Salary survey offers hope
periop nurse shortage may be easing
periop nurse shortage may be easing
By Carina Stanton, MA
Senior News Writer/Reporter
 Don Bacon |
Comparative analyses of responses obtained in AORN’s annual Salary Surveys over the last five years provide glimmerings of hope for perioperative managers that the shortage of qualified nurses may be easing somewhat. The median percentage of vacant full-time nursing positions reported by survey respondents has been on a steady decline, from 5.5% reported in the 2005 survey, to 4.3% last year and only 3.7% in the 2007 survey.
Don Bacon, PhD, associate professor of marketing at the University of Denver Daniels College of Business in Colorado and a research associate at Rocky Mountain Market Research in Denver, has worked with AORN each year since the inception of the salary survey. He said the decrease in median vacant positions suggests that the nursing shortage is getting better year by year. But other results obtained from the annual survey questions clearly indicate the shortage remains a big concern. For instance, when asked how severe the nursing shortage crisis is, 72% of those surveyed chose responses that fell in the “moderate”-to-“crisis” range. “Does this mean the right positions aren’t being fi lled or perhaps the correct positions are not being budgeted for?” Bacon wondered during an interview with AORN Connections. Similarly, when comparing viewpoints of survey respondents over the last five years, Bacon found that the nursing shortage was consistently a greater concern for staff nurses. Bacon attributes the results to differing per- ceptions among survey respondents, with those holding management positions “further from where the rubber hits the road, while staff nurses are in the trenches making difficult decisions.” The 2007 Salary Survey results, for example, show that 51% of high-level managers believe the nursing shortage has created a moderate-to-crisis-level impact on their working environment. Expand the survey screen to include nurses, and 72% report a moderate-to-crisis level impact from the nursing shortage. Bacon said the effect the nursing shortage has on patient care tends to be rated more severely by respondents with the most patient contact. For instance, about 75% of staff nurses rate the effects of the shortage as moderate-to-crisis level, while only 65% of nurse managers’ responses fell in that range, and only 55% of those holding director/VP/assistant nursing director titles saw a moderate-to-crisis level impact. Pay raise data AORN’s 2007 Salary Survey found that facility administrators received the highest average base salary increase of 6.1%, up from a 4.5% gain reported in the 2006 survey. Perioperative staff nurses received a more modest 3.5% increase in 2007, up only slightly from the 3.4% average increase reported in 2006. Pay increases for perioperative directors/VPs/assistant directors, meanwhile, were minimal at 4.1% in 2007. Last year the average base salary increase for those positions was 4.2%. Look for detailed results and analysis of AORN’s 2007 Salary Survey in the December issue of AORN Journal. For perioperative practitioners, managers and healthcare facility administrators, AORN’s annual salary survey provides insightful baseline evidence to track critical trends. In addition to compensation benchmarks, the survey compiles results on demographics trends in the perioperative workforce and provides valuable recruitment and retention indicators, such as perioperative nurses’ overall job satisfaction levels. Looking at the numbers Although staff nurses lagged behind administrators’ average salary raises in this year’s survey, pay gains for staff nurses led the way when averaged over the last five years, according to a comparative analysis of this year’s results with those of previous salary surveys AORN has conducted since 2002. “It’s possible that staff nurses have been getting better pay raises in the past and now administrators are catching up,” Bacon suggested.
Bacon says the 2007 survey results represent the strongest sample of respondents to date, with a usable sample of 4,429 individuals. The online survey questionnaire was sent out in August to 23,302 AORN members and 9,040 non-members. This year’s sample includes respondents from a broad range of ages, levels of experience and geographic locations. As in past surveys, most respondents (72%) worked in acute-care hospitals in 2007. Other survey results indicate that male perioperative professionals, as well as those living in the western U.S., had higher average base salaries, trends that also were seen in AORN’s 2006 salary survey. Also unchanged from last year is the number of respondents who said they take call, which remains at 56%. A curious change reflected in this year’s survey results is that clinical and professional certifications were not associated with significant differences in compensation. “This was interesting; I don’t know quite what to make of this,” Bacon acknowledged. “Pay for certification is fairly idiosyncratic, so pay increases may be happening for certification, just not enough to show patterns in the data. But it’s certainly something to think about.” Higher levels of education are a different story. “The pattern seems to be that more education equals more money,” Bacon said. In the 2007 survey, for example, respondents with a Master of Science degree in nursing reported an average $4,300 in additional annual base compensation. Last year, the survey showed only a $2,700 differential favoring those with nursing MS degrees. Nurses holding a bachelor’s degree in any field on average received $500 more annually than nurses holding only diplomas or associate’s degrees in nursing. Understanding the trends With five years’ worth of survey results available, Bacon was able to compare responses to several questions from the 2007 survey results with data from previous surveys. Pay gains for staff nurses led the way when averaged over the last five years, according to a comparative analysis of this year’s results with those of previous salary surveys AORN has conducted.
Bacon noted that this year’s responses confirm previous annual findings that the top five benefits offered to perioperative staff are health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, earned/paid time off and bereavement leave. He also noted an increase in the percentage of nurses receiving 401(k) contributions from employers and a corresponding decrease in nurses receiving benefits under a traditional employer-funded-defined-benefit pension plan. “This trend is consistent with national trends, as employers move towards 401(k) plans to replace pensions for ease, money saving and manageability, “ Bacon explained. Sharing perspectives One key theme Bacon has noticed in responses obtained from every annual salary survey is that perioperative nurses tend to link inadequate compensation with a belief that their role is misunderstood by facility administrators who don’t fully understand the complexities and training required of those working in the perioperative environment.
The 2007 survey findings, for example, show that all nurses see pay increases related more directly to their professional experience early in their careers, while only smaller pay increases are reported in the later years of their career, Bacon explained. To elicit more detailed data on job satisfaction and professional needs for staff nurses and perioperative managers, the 2007 survey included new questions about job satisfaction. Overall, managers are more satisfied with their jobs, but least satisfied with the pressure they feel working more hours a week than they’d prefer, Bacon noted. “When asked to list the top priorities for improving the work environment, 53% of staff nurses listed more pay, while 52% of managers listed more staff members.” Searching for salaries Based on results from the 2007 AORN Salary Survey, association members can fi nd estimates of average compensation for any nursing position through an interactive salary calculator available on the aorn.org Web site. The calculator was developed by Salary Survey researcher Donald Bacon and AORN to provide a convenient way for members to apply data from AORN’s salary survey to a member’s unique information needs. “This tool uses our national sample to let you see the average effect of close to a dozen different variables on salary, including job title, region, age, gender and experience—a valuable tool for nurses, as well as recruiters,” Bacon explained. To access the calculator, job openings and other career resources, visit the AORN CareerCenter at aorn.org/CareerCenter.
AORN thanks Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, exclusive sponsor of the 2007 Salary Survey and the online AORN Salary Calculator.
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