Aorn Guidelines For Perioperative Practice

The 2026 AORN Guidelines for Perioperative Practice introduce critical updates to 36 evidence-based standards, focusing on high-risk areas including surgical energy device safety, instrument cleaning, and infection control. These updated guidelines, which incorporate new requirements for borescope inspections and transmission-based precautions, are essential for maintaining compliance with CMS and The Joint Commission standards. For the full, updated guidelines and implementation tools, visit AORN Guidelines for Perioperative Practice

Staying Sharp: Key Updates in the 2026 AORN Guidelines for Perioperative Practice aorn guidelines for perioperative practice

Environmental Hygiene Essentials: Focuses on turnover pressure and the sequencing of steps to reduce infection risk between surgical cases. AORN has also announced a partnership with the

Part 7: The Future of the AORN Guidelines

As of 2025, AORN is focusing on several emerging areas: produce a facility-specific gap analysis template

• produce a facility-specific gap analysis template,
• create the implementation timeline and responsibility matrix,
• summarize a specific AORN guideline (name the guideline topic),
• or draft the policy language for one of the sections above.

AORN has also announced a partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to adapt the Guidelines for low-resource settings, recognizing that safe surgery is a global equity issue.