AORN eGuidelines+

Terms of Use

These Terms of Use ("Terms of Use") set forth the terms and conditions under which you are authorized to use the websites at aornstandards.org and any other AORN-related site featuring a link to these Terms of Use (the "Sites"), and any mobile applications featuring a link to these Terms of Use (the “Applications”). The Sites and Applications are collectively referred to as the “Services”. The Services are owned and operated by the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses ("AORN," "we," "us" or "our").

To the extent rules or guidelines affecting your use of these Services are found on other pages of our Services, those rules and guidelines (including our ) are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use. By using any of our Services, you agree to these Terms of Use. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you should immediately cease all usage of our Services.

Description of Service

Our Services feature a wide array of information, resources, webinars, education, tool kits, interactive features, User Content (as defined below), and other content (collectively "Content"). To the extent new Content, services, or features are added to our Services in the future, the use thereof is subject to these Terms of Use.

Additional Policies and Terms

Our describes the information we collect when you and others use our Services, as well as how we use the information, and some of the steps we take to protect your privacy. Our Privacy Policy is part of these Terms of Use. By agreeing to these Terms of Use, you are also consenting to our use of your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

If you sign up to participate in our online forum, to enter a promotion, or to use a special feature or password-protected area of our Services, you may be asked to agree to special terms (for example, when registering to participate in our ORNurselink forum, you must agree to the , which are incorporated herein, before you may participate in the forum). In most cases, you will be asked to expressly consent to the special terms by entering your information, checking a box, or taking another action, or in some cases, special terms applicable to downloaded purchases (such as e-books or other digital courses or materials) may be sent to you by email or otherwise. If any of the special terms are different than these Terms of Use, the special terms will supplement or amend these Terms of Use, but only with respect to the matters governed by the special terms.

Stores, Event Registrations and Donations

Our Services include an online store through which you can purchase materials or webinars, register for conferences or other events, or make donations to the AORN Foundation. We also feature links to third party stores, or third party products or services you can purchase elsewhere. These transactions are governed by these Terms of Use and any supplemental terms you may find in the course of performing the transaction (such as return or refund policies). Please be aware that some aspects of these transactions may be handled by third party service providers. Any information collected in these transactions will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. If you have questions or concerns about purchases, donations, or other transactions you have made on our Services, please send an email to .

Third Party Sites and Services

Some features of our Services, and some Applications, are operated on behalf of AORN by third parties, and may be subject to the Terms of Use and/or Privacy Policies of those parties. In addition, our Services may include links to other sites on the Internet that are owned and operated by third parties.

AORN is not responsible for any aspect of these third-party service providers or websites, including without limitation the accuracy of content on those services, any purchases made on those services or use of information you may provide to those services. Please review any terms and conditions that may apply if and when you visit any areas of our Services which are operated by third parties. Any links to other websites are provided only for the purpose of convenience and do not constitute a referral or endorsement of any of these sites or the owners, services, products, or content on these services. Your use of third-party websites is at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

Member Features

Certain Content and features of our Services are accessible only to AORN members who are logged in to their account on our Services. Please do not make any such members-only Content or features accessible to anyone other than AORN members, and please do not distribute any Content in such areas to non-members unless otherwise described herein or as approved by AORN. We respect the confidentiality of our members, and you should treat any online postings by members or others with respect and not disclose or share such information outside the AORN community.

Modifications and Interruption to the Services

We reserve the right to modify or discontinue all or any portion of our Services with or without notice to you. We will not be liable if we choose to exercise this right. You acknowledge and accept that we do not guarantee continuous or secure access to our Services, or that operation of our Services will be uninterrupted or error free. You understand that usage of our Services may be interfered with or adversely affected by numerous factors or circumstances outside of our control.

Your Representations

As a condition of your right to use the Services, you represent that you are of legal age to enter into a binding contract and that you are not a person barred from visiting the Services and accessing the Content under the laws of the United States or other country.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold the AORN Parties harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorney's fees and costs, made by any third party due to or arising out of: (i) your use of a Service in a manner not permitted by AORN, including without limitation your actual or alleged violation of these Terms of Use, or infringement of a third party's intellectual property or other rights by you or someone else using your computer, mobile device or account; (ii) any Content you post to a Service, or (iii) any interaction you have with a third party through a Service.

Registration on our Services

Certain features of our Services may require you to register by providing your personal information, such as your name, e-mail address, and/or other information. For example, our Services may contain areas that are only available to AORN members or customers, or you may wish to create an account in order to make purchases or facilitate transactions on our Services. You may also wish to register on our Services to receive one or more of our e-mail newsletters. You may start or stop your receipt of these email newsletters at any time via the links in every newsletter.

If you wish to register on any of our Services, you agree to provide accurate information about yourself as required by the applicable registration form, and you further agree that you will update such data to keep it accurate, current and complete. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your use of our Services if we discover, or if we have a reasonable basis to believe, that any of the data you have provided is inaccurate, incomplete or untrue. If you register on any of our Services, you may not share your log-in details (e.g., username and password) with any other person or authorize any other person to log-in with your account. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your log-in details and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any known or suspected unauthorized use of your account or any other suspected breach of security. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect the confidentiality of your log-in data.

User-Submitted Content and User Conduct

Any Content uploaded, posted, submitted, or otherwise made available by individual users of our Services, including without limitation submissions by contributors, comments to articles, or other content which does not originate with AORN ("User Content"), is the sole responsibility of the person who made such User Content available on the Site. Under no circumstances will any AORN Party be liable in any way for any User Content made available through any of our Services. Because we do not necessarily pre-screen or review the User Content posted on our Services, we do not warrant and/or guarantee the truthfulness, integrity, suitability, or quality of that User Content. You also agree and understand that by accessing any of our Services, you may encounter Content that you may consider to be obscene, improper, or otherwise objectionable. We have no responsibility for any User Content, including without limitation any errors or omissions therein. The AORN Parties are not liable for any loss or damage of any kind you claim was incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, e-mailed, transmitted or otherwise made available on our Services, whether by any AORN Parties, individual users of our Services, or our third party contractors or licensors.

If you post any User Content to our Services, you agree to the . We reserve the right (but have no obligation) in our sole discretion to pre-screen, edit, refuse, move or remove any Content that is posted on our Services. You agree that our exercise of such discretion will not convert or transform User Content to Content owned or provided by AORN, and the user who made such User Content available on a Service will retain ownership thereof as described below.

License of User Content; Warranties

If any User Content is your original work, then you own the copyright in that work. We do not claim any copyrights in original works created and/or posted by individual visitors to our Services. However, by uploading, posting, transmitting or otherwise making any User Content available on or through a Site, (i) you are granting AORN, and our related entities, an irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free license to copy, modify, publish, distribute publicly, and prepare derivative works of such User Content, in any medium or format, and to sublicense any such rights, without any obligation of notice, attribution or compensation to you, and (ii) you warrant that the Content is your own, or otherwise free of intellectual property or other restrictions on the reproduction, display, distribution, modification, and other uses thereof, and that you have all necessary rights to post such User Content to our Site. Further, you warrant that your User Content does not infringe upon the privacy rights or other contractual or commercial interests of another.

Ownership of Feedback

We welcome your feedback regarding our Services. All information and materials submitted to AORN, such as any feedback, ideas, questions, proposed features or the like regarding or relating to a Service or the business of AORN or its related entities (collectively, "Feedback"), will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary with regard to you, but we reserve the right to treat any such Feedback as the confidential information of AORN. By submitting Feedback to AORN, you assign to AORN, free of charge, a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license to create derivative works, distribute, reproduce, perform, display, and otherwise use, any intellectual property rights or proprietary information and ideas contained within any such Feedback, including without limitation the right to sublicense or assign any of the foregoing. We will be entitled to use any Feedback you submit to us, and any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in any such Feedback, for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to developing and marketing products and services using such Feedback without restriction and without notifying or compensating you in any way. Please do not send us any information or materials for which you do not wish to grant us such rights. You are responsible for the information and other Content contained in any Feedback you submit to us, including, without limitation, their truthfulness and accuracy.

Copyright and Trademark Information

With the exception of User Content (in which end-users retain the copyrights in their own postings), copyrights and other intellectual property rights in the Content available on our Services, including without limitation Service design, text, graphics, interfaces, and the selection and arrangements thereof, are owned by AORN, with all rights reserved, or in some cases may be licensed to AORN by third parties. This Content is protected by the intellectual property rights of AORN or those owners. Based on the presence of this notice of copyright ownership, any infringement of the protected Content of this Service will be deemed by AORN to be an intentional infringement. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of an original work prepared by a U.S. or state government officer or employee as part of person's official duties. AORN®, the Association of Registered periOperative Nurses, AORN Journal®, AORN Syntegrity®, Periop 101: A Core Curriculum™, ORNurseLink, the ORNurseLink logo and the ORNurseLink design, Pfiedler Enterprises, and certain other trademarks or service marks featured on our Services, are trademarks or service marks of AORN, and may not be used without express written permission from AORN. Other AORN graphics, logos, slogans and taglines are trademarks or service marks of AORN. All other trademarks displayed on the Service are the trademarks of their respective owners, and constitute neither an endorsement nor a recommendation of such parties. In addition, such use of trademarks or links to the web sites of third parties is not intended to imply, directly or indirectly, that those third parties endorse or have any affiliation with AORN.

Notification of Claimed Copyright Infringement

In the event that you find Content posted on one of our Services which you believe is an infringement of the copyright ownership or other intellectual property rights of you or any third party, please immediately contact our Copyright Agent as described below. To report any alleged infringement, you may contact us in writing by providing a signed statement containing the following information:

your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, and if you are acting on behalf of the owner of the intellectual property, the name of the owner;
a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner of the copyright or are authorized to act on behalf of the owner;
a detailed description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
if your claim is based on a registered work, the registration number, and the date of issuance of the registration;
a description of the infringing material and the URL where such material is located on the Service, or a description of where on our Service you found such material;
your written statement that you believe, in good faith, that the use of the work on our Service has not been authorized by the true owner of the work, its agent, or as a matter of law; and
a statement under penalty of perjury that all of the information you have provided is true.

Please send your notice of alleged infringement to: Legal Counsel, AORN, 2170 South Parker Rd, Suite 400, Denver, CO 80231, or you may send it by FAX: 800-750-3212, or email: . In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), it is the policy of AORN to terminate use of our Services by repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

Permitted Use of the Content

All information contained within the AORN website and the Services is the property of AORN. Reproduction, redistribution, or modification of this information for commercial or educational purposes is prohibited without the express written permission of AORN. Any use of Content on the Services, including without limitation reproduction for purposes other than those noted herein, modification, distribution, replication, any form of data extraction or data mining, or other commercial exploitation of any kind, without prior written permission of AORN, is strictly prohibited. To obtain permission to reproduce information from any Service or any other AORN publication, please contact us at . For information about translations or foreign use, please .

Certain webinars or other educational content available on our Services may be subject to additional terms which are provided when you view those programs. You may not make any use of Content owned by any third parties which is available on the Service, without the express consent of those third parties or as otherwise described in these terms.

With the exception of search engines, you agree that you will not use any robot, spider, or other automatic device, or manual process to monitor or copy our web pages or the Content contained therein without prior written permission of an authorized officer of AORN.

Links to the Service and RSS Feeds

You are hereby licensed to create hyperlinks to Content on the Services, provided that the hyperlink accurately describes the Content to which it links on the Services. In addition, individuals and non-commercial organizations are hereby granted a license to implement the RSS feeds offered by our Services. If you wish to inquire about use of the RSS feeds on a commercial website, please contact us at . When you include links to a Service on your website (including RSS feeds) when the link is clicked, the applicable page within our Service must be displayed in full (including all trademarks, branding, advertising and promotional materials), without any accompanying frame, border, margin, design, branding, trademark, advertising, or promotional materials not originally displayed on the page within the Service, and without any interstitial pop-ups or web pages loading before the applicable target page is accessed. The page on which such feeds or links are featured must be accessible to the general public and not provided through a subscription service or for a fee, unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing by AORN. Under no circumstances may you "frame" the Service or any of its Content or copy portions of the Service to a server, except as part of an Internet service provider's incidental caching of pages. AORN reserves the right to revoke these licenses generally, or your right to use specific links or RSS feeds, at any time, with or without cause.

Disclaimer Regarding Content and Services

The materials on our Services have been prepared for informational purposes only. AORN makes reasonable efforts to provide accurate and reliable information on the Services, however, we do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, or timeliness of information posted on our Services, whether by AORN, our employees, users of our Services, or third parties. Reliance on any Content posted on our Services or available through our Services is solely at your own risk and AORN assumes no liability with regard to any such Content. We make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of any Content or features on our Services created or provided by third parties, or with regard to any product or service provided or offered by any third party on the Services (including without limitation advertisers on the Services) and you acknowledge that any reliance on representations and warranties provided by any party other than AORN will be at your own risk. Any User Content posted by an individual or other Content provided by a third party, including all articles, opinions, and responses to questions, are solely the opinions and responsibility of the person or entity submitting them and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of AORN. You expressly agree to hold the AORN Parties harmless for any claims of damage arising from any Content, product or service provided by any third party. AORN does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, products, services, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on the Services.

Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, AORN, ITS RELATED ENTITIES, ITS CONTENT AND SERVICE PROVIDERS, ITS LICENSORS, AND ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS (COLLECTIVELY THE "AORN PARTIES") EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. OUR SERVICES AND ALL CONTENT, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED THROUGH THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. THE AORN PARTIES ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TIMELINESS OF DELIVERY OF CONTENT, ANY FAILURES OF DELIVERY, ERRONEOUS DELETION OR FAILURE TO STORE ANY OF YOUR PERSONAL SETTINGS OR COMMUNICATIONS, OR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND YOU CLAIM WAS INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF OUR SERVICES. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, WILL ANY OF THE AORN PARTIES BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY PERSON OR ENTITY CLAIMING THROUGH YOU FOR ANY LOSS, INJURY, LIABILITY, DAMAGE OR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, INABILITY TO USE, OR RELIANCE ON ANY OF OUR SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT, PRODUCT OR SERVICE PROVIDED TO YOU THROUGH OUR SERVICES. THIS IS A COMPREHENSIVE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY THAT APPLIES TO ALL LOSSES AND DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, WHETHER DIRECT OR INDIRECT, GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF DATA, GOODWILL, REVENUE OR PROFITS. THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY APPLIES WHETHER THE ALLEGED LIABILITY IS BASED ON CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR ANY OTHER BASIS; EVEN IF ANY AORN PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IF ANY PART OF THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS FOUND TO BE INVALID, ILLEGAL OR UNENFORCEABLE FOR ANY REASON, THEN THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF THE AORN PARTIES UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES TO YOU OR ANY PERSON OR ENTITY CLAIMING THROUGH YOU FOR LIABILITIES THAT OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE BEEN LIMITED WILL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, SOME OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTIES AND LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Mobile Devices and Third-Party Restrictions

Separate versions of the Content or our Services may be available for use on mobile devices, and may be available in mobile apps. If you access our Services or Content on mobile devices or in mobile apps, you understand that your mobile carrier's standard charges will apply. Mobile apps are subject to their own Terms of Use and Privacy Policies, which may vary depending on the platform on which they are available.

Apple Store Terms

Any application installed from the Apple App Store must be installed on a device you control or own, and must be used in accordance with any applicable terms from the Apple App Store. If you install an Application from the Apple App Store, AORN, not Apple, is responsible for:

The Content in the Application;
Maintenance or support of any Application;
Any product warranties, whether express or implied;
Addressing any claims of the end-user or third party relating to the Licensed Application or the end-user’s possession and/or use of that Licensed Application, including but not limited to: (a) product liability claims; (b) any claim that the Licensed Application fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement; and (c) claims arising under consumer protection or similar legislation; and
The investigation, defense, settlement and discharge of any third party claim that the Mobile Application or your possession and use of that Mobile Application infringes a third party’s intellectual property rights.

Further, if you install a Mobile Application from the Apple App Store, you acknowledge that Apple, and Apple’s subsidiaries, are third party beneficiaries of these Terms of Use, and that, upon your acceptance of these Terms of Use, Apple will have the right (and you will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce the Terms of Use against you as a third party beneficiary thereof.

User Disputes

You are solely responsible for any User Content you may post to our Services and any disputes you may encounter with other users of our Services as a result of such contributions or otherwise. We have no obligation to become involved in, or to resolve, any disputes between users of our Services (whether Content contributors or other users). However, we reserve the right to take any actions we deems appropriate with regard to such disputes.

Governing Laws

AORN is located in Denver, Colorado. As such, the laws of Colorado and the United States will govern these Terms of Use and any claims arising out of or relating to use of the Services, without giving effect to any choice of law rules. We make no representation that our Services are appropriate, legal or available for use outside of the United States. The state and federal courts located in Denver, Colorado will serve as the venue for any actions brought, or claims made, arising out of your use of our Services.

Compliance with Laws

You assume all knowledge of applicable law and you are responsible for compliance with any such laws. You may not use the Services in any way that violates applicable state, federal, or international laws, regulations or other government requirements.

Changes to These Terms

We reserve the right, at any time, to modify, alter, or update these Terms of Use without prior notice. You are encouraged to check this page regularly for changes to the Terms of Use. Modifications will become effective immediately upon being posted to our Services, without further notice to you. Your continued use of any of our Services after such modifications are posted constitutes an acknowledgement and acceptance of such modifications, and you may not amend these Terms of Use.

Other Terms

If any provision of these Terms of Use is determined by a court of law to be unlawful, void or unenforceable for any reason, the other provisions (and any partially-enforceable provision) shall not be affected thereby and shall remain valid and enforceable to the maximum possible extent, and the invalid provision will be modified as necessary to make it valid and enforceable while as closely as possible reflecting the original intentions of AORN. You agree that these Terms of Use and any other agreements referenced herein may be assigned by AORN, in our sole discretion, to a third party in the event of a merger or acquisition or otherwise. These Terms of Use shall apply in addition to, and shall not be superseded by, any other written agreement between us in relation to your participation as a contributor to our Services. You agree and understand that these Terms of Use together with any other applicable click-through agreements you may have entered into regarding posting User Content to a Service, constitutes the entire agreement between you and AORN regarding your use of the Service, and that any other prior agreements between you and AORN are superseded by these Terms of Use. Any failure by AORN to exercise its rights under these Terms of Use or to enforce the terms hereof will not constitute a waiver of those rights. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of a Service or relating to these Terms of Use must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about these Terms of Use, please feel free to contact us by mail at: AORN, Attn: Customer Service, 2170 South Parker Rd, Suite 400, Denver, CO 80231, or email at .

Effective Date of these Terms of Use: October 2, 2017