Privacy Policy

AORN establishes a national community for operating room nurses who seek to share best practices for patients undergoing surgery. We unite and empower perioperative nurses, healthcare organizations, and industry partners to support safe surgery for every patient, every time.

AORN’s offices are located at 2170 South Parker Rd., Suite 400, Denver, CO 80231. AORN is the data controller of all personal data collected from individuals located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom.

Through your use of the Sites and Services, we will collect personal data from you. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Personal Data” refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person that we maintain in an accessible form.

Information You Voluntarily Provide

When you use the Sites or Services you may voluntarily provide us with your name, email address, mailing address, phone number and credit card information (if a purchase is made), when you apply for membership, register to attend a conference or other event, subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine, make a purchase in our online stores, subscribe to emails, make a donation to the AORN Foundation, participate in our online forums, participate in a contest or sweepstake, or if you otherwise submit Personal Data to our Services. If you log in to our Services, you will be asked to provide your email address or member ID and password. If you register for continuing education credits or an educational event or program through our Pfiedler Education division, we will collect certain Personal Data from you which may include your name, contact information, job title, state, and professional license number. Even if you have not visited our Services, your Personal Data may be added to our database if your company has registered you for membership in AORN.

IP Addresses, Click-stream, and Mobile Device Data

We automatically collect certain Personal Data through your use of the Sites and Services, such as the following:

• Usage Information. For example, the pages on the Sites you access, the frequency of access, and what you click on while on the Sites.
• Device Information. For example, hardware model, operating system, application version number, and browser.
• Mobile Device Information. Aggregated information about whether the Sites are accessed via mobile device or tablet, the device type, and the carrier.
• Location Information. Location information from Site visitors on a city-regional basis.

Like many other companies, we use technologies such as web beacons, pixels, tags, and JavaScript, alone or in conjunction with cookies, to gather information about the use of our websites and how people interact with our emails.

When you visit our Sites we, or an authorized third party, may place a cookie on your device that collects information, including Personal Data, about your online activities over time and across different sites. Cookies allow us to track use, infer browsing preferences, and improve and customize your browsing experience.

We may use both session-based and persistent cookies on our Sites. Session-based cookies exist only during a single session and disappear from your device when you close your browser or turn off the device. Persistent cookies remain on your device after you close your browser or turn off your device. You can control your cookie settings on your own device, but choosing to disable cookies on your device may limit your ability to use some of the features on our Sites and Services.

We also use web beacons and pixels on our Sites and in emails. For example, we may place a pixel in a marketing email that notifies us when you click on a link in the email. We use these technologies to operate and improve our Sites and Services and marketing emails.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses Cookies or other tracking technologies to help us analyze how users interact with the Sites and Services, compile reports on their activity, and provide other services related to their activity and usage. The technologies used by Google may collect information such as your IP address, time of visit, whether you are a returning visitor, and any referring website. The technologies used by Google Analytics do not gather information that personally identifies you. The information generated by Google Analytics will be transmitted to and stored by Google and will be subject to Google’s privacy policies. To learn more about Google’s partner services and to learn how to opt-out of tracking of analytics by Google, click here.

Google reCAPTCHA

We utilize Google reCAPTCHA, which is a free service that protects websites from spam and abuse using advanced risk analysis techniques to tell humans and bots apart. Google reCAPTCHA works differently depending on what version is deployed. For example, you may be asked to check a box indicating that you are not a robot or Google reCAPTCHA may detect abusive traffic without user interaction. Google reCAPTCHA works by transmitting certain types of information to Google, such as the referrer URL, IP address, visitor behavior, operating system information, browser and length of the visit, cookies, and mouse movements. Your use of Google reCAPTCHA is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.  More information as to Google reCAPTCHA and how it works is available here.

We use the Personal Data we collect to provide the Services to you, to improve our Services and Sites, and to protect our legal rights. In addition, we may use the Personal Data we collect to:

• Fulfill your order;
• Provide the products, services or information you have requested;
• Enable you to access content you may have purchased through our online stores or elsewhere on our Sites, and Services or to notify you that a new version or additional content you have purchased is available;
• Subscribe you to our emails and newsletters;
• Offer member benefits;
• Register you for an event, educational program, or conference;
• Process your membership application;
• Enter you into a contest or sweepstake;
• Communicate with you about our Sites or Services or to inform you of any changes to our Sites or Services;
• Provide support;
• Maintain and improve our Sites and Services;
• Defend our legal rights and the rights of others;
• Efficiently maintain our business; and
• Comply with applicable law.

We may operate contests and sweepstakes through the Services, which may require registration in order to enter. Your Personal Data may be used by us to contact you for winner notification, prize delivery confirmation or other promotional purposes. Your entry in the contest or sweepstakes may also result in you being added to our mailing/email lists or those of our related entities, or the lists of our promotional partners associated with the contest or sweepstakes. In some instances, a third-party advertiser or sponsor may operate or host a contest or sweepstakes on the Services, and collect your information. In those cases, where we are not the sponsor, operator or host of the contest or sweepstakes, we may have no control over the information collected and accordingly urge you to review the official rules of the contest/sweepstakes as well as the advertiser’s or sponsor’s privacy policy applicable to the contest or sweepstakes before participating.

We may share the information that we collect about you in the following ways:

• With AORN affiliated companies including the AORN Foundation, and with AORN program supporters related to your participation in such program;
• With services providers who perform data services on our behalf (e.g., email, hosting, maintenance, backup, analysis, etc.);
• To service providers to prepare, deploy and analyze advertising content;
• To continuing education accrediting bodies;
• With event sponsors or exhibitors who wish to notify you about event activities or information otherwise related to the event, conference, or educational program for which you have registered, or to provide other information about their products and services in which you may be interested;
• To the extent that we are required to do so by law;
• In connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings;
• To establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights, including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention;
• To any person who we reasonably believe may apply to a court or other competent authority for disclosure of that Personal Data where, in our reasonable opinion, such court or authority would be reasonably likely to order disclosure of that Personal Data;
• In situations that we believe to be emergencies involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person or property if we believe that your information in any way relates to that threat;
• To any other person or entity as part of any business or asset sale, equity transaction, merger, acquisition or in preparation for any of these events; and
• To any other person or entity where you consent to the disclosure.

When you join AORN as a member, we may share your information as follows:

• With the American Nursing Association (“ANA”) because AORN RN members are automatically granted affiliate membership status with the ANA. If you wish to opt-out of ANA communications, you may do so through ANA.
• With your chapter and Nursing Network (to facilitate its hosting of chapter websites, chapter membership and event management), AORN does not directly control or supervise the chapters, and it is therefore possible that a chapter may use or disclose your information in a manner incompatible with AORN’s requirements, including sharing your information with third parties unknown to AORN. If you wish to stop receiving communications from a chapter, or if you wish to change your chapter, please contact [email protected] or call AORN Customer Service at 800-755-2676.
• If your state has a state council, your information may be shared with the state council, either by AORN or by your AORN chapter.
• With APSNA, if you choose to purchase a joint membership from APSNA.
• With AORN’s affinity partners to share discounts and programs exclusive to AORN members.
• Information you share with AORN’s community board and on AORN Services may be visible to and searchable by other users of the Services and may be visible to the public.

Depending on your location (and reflecting applicable law), you may have been asked to indicate your preferences, provide us with your consent regarding the receipt of such information from us, and indicate how you would like to receive it. Wherever you are located, we will send you marketing communications based on any preferences you may have expressed.

If you (or your company on your behalf) apply for membership, register for an event, make a purchase, or otherwise create an account on our Services, you will be included in our database and you may receive communications from AORN or others as described in this Privacy Policy.

You may subscribe to email or newsletter lists in various areas of our Services, and in some cases you will be subscribed to email lists based on other activities (for example if you join AORN as a member, you will be subscribed to our membership email list and to the digital version of Outpatient Surgery Magazine). If you consent to receive texts from us, your wireless carrier may impose a charge on incoming texts. Please check with your wireless carrier for details.

We only want to send you information in which you are interested. If you do not want to receive these communications, you may unsubscribe from these communications by: (i) managing your email preferences here; (ii) clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email (to unsubscribe from that specific type of email); or (iii) by sending an email to [email protected] or calling 800-755-2676.

To ensure that your Personal Data receives an adequate level of protection, we have put in place appropriate procedures with the service providers we share your Personal Data with to ensure that your Personal Data is treated by those service providers in a way that is consistent with and which respects the applicable laws on data security and privacy. For example, we may use cloud data storage, accounting software, shipping fulfillment, payment processors, and marketing service providers.

We have implemented reasonable security measures to protect the Personal Data we collect and store from loss, misuse, destruction, or unauthorized access. However, no security measure or modality over the Internet is 100% secure. Although we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

The Sites and Services may include links to third party websites which are beyond our control. Except as stated below, this Privacy Policy applies solely to Personal Data that is acquired on the Sites and Services.

Our Services are not intended for use by minors. We do not knowingly collect, use, or disclose personal information from children under the age of 18.

We operate internationally and transfer information to the United States for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. The United States may have privacy and data protection laws that differ from, and are potentially less protective than, the laws of your country. Your Personal Data can be subject to access requests from governments, courts, or law enforcement in the United States according to the laws of the United States.

By using our Sites and Services, you explicitly consent to this risk and to the transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States, irrespective of which country you live in.

For any transfers of Personal Data from the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland or the United Kingdom that we make to other entities as described in this Privacy Policy, we use appropriate safeguards to ensure for the lawful processing and transfer of the Personal Data, including when appropriate, the use of standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission. To obtain a copy of the safeguards, contact us at [email protected].

Some internet browsers incorporate a “Do Not Track” feature that signals to websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Given that there is not a uniform way that browsers communicate the “Do Not Track” signal, the Sites do not currently interpret, respond to, or alter its practices when it receives “Do Not Track” signals.

Depending on the jurisdiction in which you are located, you may have additional rights with respect to your Personal Data. We discuss some of those jurisdictions and rights below. For example, you may have the rights to access, delete, update, or correct your information. You also may have the right to object to or opt out of direct marketing from us. If you would like to exercise your legal rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will process your request in accordance with any applicable legal requirements.

California Shine the Light Law

We do not disclose personal information obtained through our Sites or Services to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Accordingly, we have no obligations under California Civil Code § 1798.83.

Notice to Nevada Residents

Nevada law allows Nevada residents to opt-out of the sale of certain types of personal information. Subject to a number of exceptions, Nevada law defines “sale” to mean the exchange of certain types of personal information for monetary consideration to another person. We do not currently sell personal information as defined in the Nevada law. However, if you are a Nevada resident, you still may submit a verified request to opt-out of sales and we will record your instructions and incorporate them in the future if our policy changes. Opt-out requests may be sent to [email protected].

If you are in a country in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in the United Kingdom, you are entitled to the following explanation of the legal bases we rely on to process your Personal Data and a description of your privacy rights.

Legal Bases for Processing Your Personal Data

The legal basis for collecting and using the Personal Data described above will depend on the Personal Data concerned and the specific context in which we collect it.

            Consent

We may process your Personal Data based on your consent such as when you create an account or when you ask us to send certain kinds of marketing communications. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

            Our Legitimate Interests

We may process your Personal Data if doing so is necessary for our legitimate interests and your rights as an individual do not override those legitimate interests. For example, when we process your Personal Data to carry out fraud prevention activities and activities to increase network and information security, to market directly to you, to expand our business activities and to improve our services and the content and functionality of our Sites.

            To Perform a Contract

We may process your Personal Data to administer and fulfill contractual obligations to you.

            To Enable Us to Comply with a Legal Obligation

We may process your Personal Data to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject. This may include any requirement to produce audited accounts and to comply with legal process.

            Necessary for the Exercise or Defense of Legal Claims

If you bring a claim against us or we bring a claim against you, we may process your Personal Data in relation to that claim.

If you have any questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your Personal Data for any specific processing activity, please contact us using the Contact Information for Questions section below.

Your Rights

• Request access to your Personal Data. You have the right to obtain from us confirmation as to whether or not we are processing Personal Data about you and if so, the right to request access to any Personal Data we hold about you as well as related information, including the purposes for processing the Personal Data, the recipients or categories of recipients with whom the Personal Data has been shared, where possible, the period for which the Personal Data will be stored, the source of the Personal Data, and the existence of any automated decision making.
• Request correction of your Personal Data. You have the right to obtain without undue delay the rectification of any inaccurate Personal Data we hold about you and to have incomplete Personal Data completed.
• Request erasure of your Personal Data. You have the right to request that Personal Data held about you is deleted. You can ask us to delete your Personal Data if: (i) we no longer need it for the purposes for which we collected it; (ii) we have been using it with no valid legal basis; (iii) we are obligated to erase it to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject; (iv) we need your consent to use the information and you withdraw consent; or (v) you object to processing your Personal Data where our legal basis for doing so is our legitimate interests and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing.
• However, this right is not absolute. Even if you make a request for deletion, we may need to retain certain information for legal or administrative purposes, such as record keeping, maintenance of opt-out requirements, defending or making legal claims, or detecting fraudulent activities. We will retain information in accordance with the How Long Is Your Personal Data Kept section below.
• If you do exercise a valid right to have your Personal Data deleted, please keep in mind that deletion by third parties to whom the information has been provided might not be immediate and that the deleted information may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period (but will not be available to others).
• Object to processing of your Personal Data. You have the right to prevent or restrict processing of your Personal Data where our reason for processing it is based on our legitimate interests or your consent (rather than when the reason for processing it is to perform an obligation due to you under a contract with us).
• Request restriction of processing your Personal Data. You have the right to ask us to place a restriction on our use of your Personal Data if one of the following applies to you:
• You contest the accuracy of the information that we hold about you, while we verify its accuracy;
• We have used your information unlawfully, but you request us to restrict its use instead of erasing it;
• We no longer need the information for the purpose for which we collected it, but you need it to deal with a legal claim; or
• You have objected to us using your information, while we check whether our legitimate grounds override your right to object.
• Request transfer of your Personal Data. You have the right to request that we transfer some of the Personal Data you have provided to you or another service provider in electronic copy. This applies to Personal Data we are processing to service a contract with you and to Personal Data we are processing based on your consent. 
• Make a Complaint. If you have any concerns or complaints regarding our processing of your Personal Data, please contact us as described in the Contact Information for Questions section below and we will do our best to answer any question and resolve any complaint to your satisfaction.

• In addition, where you believe that AORN has not met the standards you expect of use, you have the right to make a complaint to an EU Data Protection Authority, such as the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
  • EU Data Protection Authorities (DPAs)
  • Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC)
  • Information Commissioner’s Office (United Kingdom)

We will retain your Personal Data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collect it and as set out in this Privacy Policy and for the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements that apply to us.

If your Personal Data changes, please promptly log in to AORN.org and update your profile online. If you are not able to do so, please send an email to [email protected] with any changes, or to inform us if you would like us to delete your information from our records.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please send an email to us at [email protected] or write to us at: Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, Attn: Customer Service, 2170 S. Parker Road, Suite 400, Denver CO 80231.

Revised 10/10/2022