Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to the websites at AORN.org, ORNurseLink.org, AORNbookstore.org, aorn.mycrowdwisdom.com, www.pfiedlerenterprises.com, and any other AORN related site featuring a link to this Privacy Policy (the "Sites"), and any mobile applications featuring a link to this Privacy Policy (the “Applications”) which are owned and/or operated by the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses ("AORN"). The Sites and Applications are collectively referred to as the “Services.” We are committed to protecting the privacy of our members, customers, and visitors on our Services. This Privacy Policy explains the information we may collect when you use our Services, how we may collect it, with whom we may share it, the choices you have regarding your information, and certain other matters related to our privacy practices. Except as otherwise discussed in this Privacy Policy, this document only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you on our Services.

By using one of our Services or otherwise providing information to us online, you consent to the collection, processing, disclosure, and other use of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not grant this consent, you are not permitted to use our Services.

In this Privacy Policy, "we," "us" or "our" refers to AORN. Terms not otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy will have the definitions provided in the  for our Services.

Please read the following to learn more about our data collection policies and practices.

How Information is Collected

Information You Voluntarily Provide

We may collect information from you in several different areas on the Services, for various purposes including but not limited to those described below. In most cases we will only obtain personally identifiable information if you voluntarily provide it to us on our Services. For example, you would provide personal information to us if you complete any of the following on our Services: apply for membership in AORN, register to attend a conference or other event, make a purchase in our online store, register for emails from AORN, make a donation to the AORN Foundation, submit an inquiry to us, participate in our online forums, or if you otherwise submit personal information to us on our Services. If you log in to our Services, including our Applications, you may be asked to provide your email address or member ID and password. Although we discourage our users from posting personally identifiable information in our online forum or in any other manner visible to the public, if you provide any personal information in your postings on our Services, that information will be in our possession as well (although we do not typically harvest and analyze the content of postings). If your company has registered you for membership in AORN, your information may be added to our database as part of that registration, even if you have not visited our Services. If you have been registered by your company, please keep in mind that you may opt-out of communications as described under "Choices Regarding Your Information" below.

We also automatically collect certain anonymous information as described below when you visit our Services. In some cases we may combine personally identifiable information with anonymous information in order to create aggregate information about groups of individuals who use our Services. We may also combine information we have collected from you off-line (such as information you have sent us by postal mail or provided to us in person at an event) with the personal information or anonymous information we have collected from you online.

IP Addresses, Click-stream, and Mobile Device Data

We may collect IP addresses, click-stream data, length of session, and other information related to your use of our Services for purposes of system administration, to improve the Services, to report aggregate information to our advertisers and sponsors, and/or other internal uses related to the Services. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you access the Internet. Our computers identify your computer by its IP address. When you request pages from the Services, our computers log your IP address. Click-stream data is information collected when you visit different pages on our Services. Click-stream data may include information such as the page served, the time, the source of the request, the type of browser, the preceding page view, and other non-personal information. This data helps us analyze how visitors arrive at the Services, what type of content is most popular, and other information about usage of our Services. When you use our Applications, we may collect the ID of your mobile device, the time and date on which you log in or access our Applications, and the actions you take within our Applications.

Analytics Tools

We may use "Google Analytics" or similar tools or services to collect information such as how often users visit our Services, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to our Services. We use the information we obtain from Google Analytics to improve our Services and tailor them to the needs of our users. Google Analytics may collect the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit our Services, as well as your gender, age, interest categories, and other information to the extent it is available to Google Analytics. Google’s use of information collected by Google Analytics is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to our Services by disabling cookies on your browser.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our Services use standard technology called "cookies," which are small data files that are transferred to your hard drive when your browser settings permit the acceptance of cookies. We or our third party advertising or service providers may also use web beacons or similar technologies. Cookies automatically identify your web browser whenever you visit a Site, and save your user ID, preferences and other information related to your use of our Services. By tracking how and when you use our Services, cookies help us determine which features and content on our Services are most important to our visitors. Accepting cookies allows you, among other things, to personalize your experience on the Services. Cookies may also allow the Services to display advertising which may be of interest to you. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, you generally can turn off cookies in your browser; however, some areas of the Services may not provide you with a personalized experience if you have disabled the use of cookies.

Because there is not yet an industry standard regarding how to respond to web browser do not track settings, our Services do not currently respond to this setting. Please note that we may use third party ad networks to serve ads on our Services, and these ad networks or other promotional partners may use cookies or similar technologies which may track users across other sites and over time. If you wish to take steps to opt-out of tracking by certain online advertisers, you can visit the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page at .

Types of Information Collected

We collect personally-identifiable information from users of our Services as needed to facilitate the delivery of information, products and/or services you request, purchases you make, or the donation of funds to the AORN Foundation. For example, we may require users, donors and/or customers to provide their name, email address, mailing address, phone number and credit card number (if a purchase is made), in order to process a membership application, conference registration, provide materials or information requested, participate in a sweepstakes or other promotion, register for our email lists or newsletters, or for other purposes related to our Services or the business of AORN. If you register for continuing education credits through Pfiiedler Enterprises, we will collect certain identifiable information from you which may include your name, state, and professional license number. We may also collect non-personally identifiable information (which alone cannot be used to identify you), as described further below.

Disclosure of Information

If you provide any personally-identifiable information through the Services, your information and details related to your transactions on our Services may be aggregated and maintained as part of your profile. We may share your contact information with current or future related entities of AORN or the AORN Foundation for any purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and we may occasionally share with unaffiliated third parties, in order to provide you with information or special offers in which we think you will be interested.

When you join AORN as a member, your information may be shared as follows:

AORN members are automatically granted affiliate membership status with the American Nursing Association ("ANA"). Accordingly, we will provide your name, mailing address, job title, company, and AORN member number to the ANA so it can process your ANA membership. If you wish to opt-out of ANA membership, you can do so on your membership application.

If you are a member of an AORN chapter, your email address and other membership information disclosed to AORN will be provided to the applicable chapter. Although AORN has requested that the chapters only use members’ personal information in accordance with AORN’s chapter accountability standards, 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  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.

If you choose to purchase a companion membership from APSNA, AORN will share your name, email address, and other membership information with APSNA.

If you register for ORNurseLink.org, your name, address, title, employer, your actions when using the ORNurseLink service, and other profile information (including any photos you may choose to add to your profile) will be added to the ORNurseLink Member Directory, and will be visible to and searchable by other users of ORNurseLink. In addition, any information you post in the forums, or any other actions you take on the ORNurseLink service (such as "friending" another user or participating in a discussion thread) will be visible to all users of the ORNurseLink service and may be visible to the public.

We may provide your information to third party service providers who process certain transactions through our Services, deliver the information, goods or services you have ordered, or provide other services on our behalf. When we do so, we use reasonable efforts to assure that they comply with our privacy policy and applicable laws.

For customers obtaining continuing education credits through Pfiedler Enterprises, we may share aggregated data about continuing education recipients with continuing education accrediting bodies.

The information we collect on our Services is part of our normal business records, and in the event that we undergo a business transition (such as a merger, acquisition, or sale of our assets), our member and customer information, and other personally identifiable information collected on or through our Services will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred.

We may, without your consent, access and disclose your personal information, any communications sent or received by you, and any other information that we may have about you as may be permitted or required by law, regulation, rule or court order; pursuant to requests from governmental, regulatory or administrative agencies or law enforcement authorities; or to prevent, investigate, identify persons or organizations potentially involved in, or take any action regarding suspected fraud, violations of our Terms of Use, or activity that appears to us to be illegal or we believe may expose us to legal liability. Additionally, we may disclose personal information in situations that we believe to be emergencies involving potential threats to the physical safety or any person or property if we believe that your information in any way relates to that threat.

How Information is Used

We use personally-identifiable information collected on our Services to provide the products, services or information you have requested on our Services or for certain Applications, to enable you to access content you may have purchased through our online stores or elsewhere on our Services (or to notify you that a new version or additional content you have purchased is available), to statistically analyze usage of our Services, to better understand our audiences and to customize our Services and offerings accordingly, for our general marketing or business purposes, and for other purposes as described below. Your information is used for the specific purpose it was provided (for example to process your membership application, fulfill your order, register you for a conference, subscribe you to an email newsletter you have selected, or otherwise respond to your requests on our Services) but we also may use information for AORN’s general marketing purposes and to offer member benefits and products to our members, customers or visitors who are likely to be interested in them. We may use your information to contact you regarding your membership, issues with a transaction, and to provide further information about AORN, special offers, or other matters in which we believe you would be interested.

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). 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. If you later choose to opt-out of receiving text messages, please contact  or call AORN Customer Service at (800) 755-2676.

When you register for a conference or other AORN event on our Services, the information you provide will be used for all purposes related to that event or conference. For example, your name, job title, your company name, or other information may be included in the list of conference attendees (including in any mobile application or other digital publication related to the event), your name and email address or mailing address may be shared with event sponsors or exhibitors who wish to notify you about event activities, or to provide other information about their products and services or information otherwise related to the event. You will automatically be opted-in to receive offers related to the event for which you have registered, whether from AORN, event sponsors, or others. You may opt out of receiving event-related marketing communications by updating your communication preferences at www.aorn.org (log in to AORN.org, click on "Update My Profile" and then click on "Communications Options").

We may operate contests and sweepstakes through the Services, which may require registration in order to enter. Your personally-identifiable information 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 your 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.

If you click on one of the links to donate to the , you will be directed to the AORN Foundation’s section of our Site, where you may enter your personal information, payment information and other details in order to make your donation. Please note that you are providing this information directly to the AORN Foundation in order to process your donation, however your contact information is being provided directly to AORN as well.

Choices Regarding Your Information

Please remember that it is possible to access and use many areas of our Services without giving us any personally-identifiable information. If you apply for membership, register for an event, make a purchase, or otherwise create an account on our Services or give us personally-identifiable information, you will be included in our database and you may receive communications from AORN or others as described in this Privacy Policy. However, you may unsubscribe from these communications by: (i) updating your communications preferences (log in to AORN.org, click on "Update My Profile" and then click on "Communications Options"); (ii) clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email (to unsubscribe from that type of email); or (iii) by sending an email to custsvc@aorn.org or calling (800) 755-2676.

We reserve the right to disclose personally-identifiable information in the good faith belief that we are required to do so by law, or that doing so is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, respond to any claims, or to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of our Company, any user of our Services, our affiliates, their employees, Site or Application users, or the public. Information collected through our Services, including personally-identifiable information, may be disclosed as part of, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets or acquisition.

In accordance with California state law, residents of California may obtain a list of the kinds of personally-identifiable information we have disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year, and the names and addresses of all third parties that received such information from us for direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year, by writing to us at the address below.

Security Precautions

We have implemented reasonable security measures to safeguard the personally-identifiable information you provide us. However, please keep in mind that "perfect security" does not exist on the Internet, and accordingly we cannot provide any guarantee that your information will remain secure. We use several methods to transmit information submitted by our members, customers, and visitors online. Transactions on our Services are primarily protected by secure socket layer (SSL) encryption software, however we may use other technologies to protect your information in the future.

Third Party Websites and Collection

Our Services include links to third party websites which are beyond our control. In addition, when you use certain features on our Services, you may be providing personal information directly to a third party service provider, or you may visit other merchants or service providers through links on our Site who may collect and use your personal information. Third party websites may send their own cookies to you, independently collect data or solicit personal information and may or may not have their own published privacy policies. If you visit a website that is linked to our Services, you should carefully review that site’s privacy policy before providing any personal information. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any information you submit to third-party websites, including, without limitation, any websites that may be integrated into our Site’s navigation, connected to our Site or an Application by hypertext link or otherwise.

Privacy of Minors

Our Services are not intended for use by minors. We do not knowingly collect personally-identifiable information from children under the age of 18. If we learn that a child has provided us with personal information, we will delete the child’s personal information (except as may be necessary for legal compliance) and remove the child from any mailing lists.

International Users

If you are accessing our Services from outside of the United States, by using any of our Services, you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States and the use, processing, and sharing of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Release and Limitation of Liability

By providing us with any personally-identifiable information, you expressly and unconditionally release and hold harmless AORN, the AORN Foundation, each of their related companies and their respective shareholders, owners, members, directors, officers, employees and agents (collectively, the "Releasees") from any and all liability for any injuries, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with the use and/or misuse of your collected personally-identifiable information. In addition, while we take reasonable steps to prevent third party companies from making unauthorized use of your personal information, we cannot be held be held liable for any injuries, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with the use and/or misuse of your collected personally-identifiable information by those third parties.

Notification of Changes

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time in response to changes in our practices, features of our Services, or applicable laws. If so, any such changes will be posted on this page, and we will provide notification as required by applicable law, so that we may keep users informed of our information collection practices. We recommend that you review this page frequently so that you are aware of our latest policy. Your continued use of any of our Services shall constitute your acceptance of such revised Privacy Policy.

Correcting and Updating Information

If your personally-identifiable information 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  with any changes, or to inform us if you would like us to delete your information from our records.

Contact Information for Questions

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

Effective Date of this Privacy Policy: October 2, 2017
Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
2170 South Parker Rd, Suite 400, Denver CO 80231
Phone: Local: Fax: 
Email: 
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