AHA BLS Instructor certification?

Many hospitals offer AHA Instructor Training as part of their education departments.

You might check with the local AHA chapter for more information.

I was trained through my hospital, but now many training centers are through local fire and rescue or even community colleges. You must choose a training site to be affiliated with and they will assign someone to monitor you and keep you updated. I love teaching CPR and find it rewarding. It may confusing at first, but you just need to find local folks to tell you what the ropes are where you live. I paid about $175 thirteen years ago and I expect it would be more now.

I would echo what was said above: Start with your hospital's education department if you are employed by one. That's how I got started instructing. They've picked up the ticket for all my training, and in exchange I teach renewal courses for the hospital staff. I've enjoyed it so much that I'll be certifying as an ACLS instructor at the next opportunity. It's very rewarding, and I enjoy teaching these topics because teaching "sharpens your sword" so to speak.

You may find the following info helpful:

http://www.americanheart.org/present...tifier=3012360
You can enter your zip code and find your local training centers here. You'll want to contact a training center first. The Core Instructor Course can be taken online, but your training center may provide you with the code you'll need to access it.

1-877-AHA-4CPR
If all else fails, just call the training customer service line and tell them you want to be an instructor. They'll be glad to help you.

I hope you find teaching as interesting as I do! Good luck!

Each training center coordinator has all the rules and can walk you through this. Most hospitals have a TCC. Some Fire Depts. have one. It is a person who is responsible for making sure people are eligible for the courses they take, paperwork, etc.

"disciple-specific" refers to an instructor course for either BLS, ACLS, PALS, etc. Once you are a BLS instructor you will be able to teach many types of CPR, but you may elect to only teach one or some of them.

The only cost should be the price of the instructor course, if any. The online course is included in the instructor course fee. It is an interactive slide show online. You earn 8 hours of CNE also. I agree, though, the AHA website could be a little more friendly. Again, talk to the TCC about this.

Once you have your certificate you are assigned to a TCC. This person will be the one you turn in your paperwork to and will provide you with cards to give your students. We mail ours directly to the students rather than give to instructor. If you decide to work under a different TCC you will have to sign a form allowing TCC #1 to transfer information to TCC #2. AHA is adamant about paper trails!!