OR Manager March 2022 - 21

Perioperative Survey
survey responses. For the CNOR certification
exam, we had 3,903 responses
in 2021. This information parallels the
job analysis survey results, with one
key difference. These results are from
nurses taking the CNOR certification
examination. For the CFPN-KBT, which
launched in mid-2021, we have results
from 301 nurses. These nurses represent
a unique subset of the perioperative
nursing workforce because the
entire group, per the eligibility criteria,
has less than 2 years of perioperative
nursing experience.
AORN publishes an annual salary
survey that has demographic data.
AORN's annual survey is an excellent
source of data, but again, it is one
piece of the picture for the perioperative
nursing specialty. This data has
been gathered for nineteen consecutive
years and thus can provide a historical
perspective. Just as with the CCI data,
there are some limitations to the 2021
AORN survey. The authors of the 2021
survey results acknowledge that their
findings do not reflect a random sample.
" It should be noted that the sample
is not perfectly random because the net
response rate was modest (2.7%). Still,
the sample is sufficiently representative
of the perioperative nurse population
that the statistical tests can provide insight, "
they stated. These findings from
AORN do have some intersection with
certification status.
OR Manager has surveyed perioperative
leaders for 20+ years and has historical
data relevant to the perioperative
nursing specialty, the latest of which
were authored by Cynthia Saver and
published in September and October
2021. However, this survey is focused
on the work of perioperative leaders
and managers and is concentrated on
the demographics of that subset of the
perioperative workforce.
Each of these sources is a partial
picture of the overall profession.
There is no mechanism to combine
these sources, and there is no stanwww.ormanager.com
(n=3,003)
NR
6.93%
62
years or
older,
17.38%
20 to 24 years,
0.03%
25 to 35 years,
12.02%
56 to 61 years,
18.28%
36 to 45 years,
19.25%
46 to 55 years,
26.11%
Figure 1: Age Group. NR = no response.
dardization among the data gathered.
These facts come through clearly in attempts
to build a picture of the perioperative
workforce from these disparate
sources.
Let us try to build this picture.
Data point #1: Age groups
See Figure 1 for the graphical representation
of the 2019 job analysis survey
for the CNOR certification. There
were 3,003 total respondents of both
certified and non-certified perioperative
nurses. The largest group of nurses by
age group in this survey was the 46-55
cohort. The caveat to this survey is that,
while it serves quite well for certification
purposes, it is not a random sample of
the entirety of the perioperative nursing
specialty. We also noted that the
demographic questions included in the
CNOR job analysis survey are voluntary;
respondents that elected not to answer
a question are indicated as NR.
For the CNOR post-certification exam
survey, we had 3,903 responses in
2021. These results are from nurses
taking the CNOR certification examination,
who, notably, are now taking the
examination early in their careers; 52%
of test takers had only 2-5 years of experience
as a perioperative nurse. The
current CNOR test takers are trending
much younger, with the largest group
being the 25-34-year-old nurses making
up 37% of the total.
For the CFPN-KBT, launched in mid2021,
we had 301 responses. Nurses
taking the KBT portion as part of the
CFPN certification process must have
completed an orientation to perioperative
nursing and have less than 2 years
of OR experience. Thus, these nurses
are starting out in their careers. The
age distribution is much different, with
the largest group of test takers being in
the 25-34-year-old age block at 51%.
The demographics of the CFPN-KBT test
takers is an early look at the future of
perioperative nursing for these early
adopters of this new credential.
AORN reports data on age differently
from CCI. In the 2021 AORN salary survey,
there were 1,895 respondents with
an average age of " 46 years and 77%
were between 30 and 60 years old (unchanged
from 2020 and 2019). "
Continued on page 23
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