Becoming an American Heart Association instructor is easy after consulting with an American Heart Association Training Center to determine whether the Training Center (TC) accepts new instructors.
Below are the following steps to becoming an AHA Instructor:
- Be accepted by your local AHA Training Center before enrolling in an Instructor Course and have a completed Instructor Candidate Application on file with that Training Center.
- Have current AHA provider status in the discipline for that Instructor Course and be proficient in all the skills of that discipline. Disciplines include ACLS, BLS, PALS, and Heartsaver.
- Complete the discipline-specific classroom Instructor Course. This is a class through the AHA eLearning website and has a separate additional fee. Follow this link for the class: https://shopcpr.heart.org/acls-instructor-essentials-online
- Successfully be monitored teaching your first course within six months of completing the discipline-specific classroom Instructor Course. Training Center Coordinators can require additional monitoring.
Once you become an Instructor, you will have access to the most current emergency cardiovascular care science, course updates, training resources, and tools through the online AHA Instructor Network.
Required paperwork: Instructor Essentials certificate and a copy of your current BLS and ACLS certification card.
Class materials: It is your responsibility to come to class with the requred ACLS instructor materials. They can be purchased at https://shopcpr.heart.org
Time: Approximately 8-hour initial classroom and 8 to 16-hour class observation for your initial class taught.
Certification: 2 years
Testing: Skills Check-off and open resource written test required.
Note: If you are aligning through a Training Site/Center other than Idaho Medical Academy - Ada County Emergency Medical District - then you will receive your certification card and classroom observation through them. The fee for the classroom portion will decrease from the listed fee above. ________________________________________________________________________________________