CPR Instructor

grammy1 · Feb 1, 2019

On 1/30/2019 at 9:08 AM, ruby_jane said:
I was and it was super-useful because I always had trained staff (since I trained them!)
But you'll need the appropriate manikins and supplies - the old manikins with no electronic "feedback" on depth of compression are apparently no longer compliant. Call your local AHA chapter and get a ballpark figure for how much it would cost you. You also have to be retrained as an instructor every other year so there's cost to that as well. Good luck!

Have you seen the LOOP systems? I decided to get one, will have everyone practice on the other manikins and then do my observation on the one with the loop attached. There is no way I can afford a whole new set of manikins. I was told that as long as everyone gets to use the LOOP I'll be fine.

BiscuitStripes, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2019

It's an interesting process how it works. I'm assuming you're talking about AHA BLS Instructor.

First, you'll have to find somewhere to take the Instructor certification course. It's usually one 8 hour day of lecture, and then as previously mentioned, you have to be observed teaching a 4 hour class for them to issue you your certification.

Now, to actually teach and issue people AHA CPR Cards, you have to be aligned with an American Heart Association "Training Center." Essentially, you have to be an independent contract for a company that has obtained Training Center status through the AHA. You'd essentially be working for the Training Center as an independent contractor.

Say you run a class of 10 students. The training center doesn't set your fees. But say you charge people $50 for the class. Or say since they're other employees at your organization, you don't want to charge them, as long as you're getting paid to teach the class by your company. That's fine.

At the end of the class, you'll need 10 AHA CPR cards. You have to buy them from AHA, but through the training center you're aligned with. I forget the costs, but for example, AHA might only charge $2 a card, but since you're a contractor through the training center, they might charge you $20 a card, and they pocket that extra $18 as revenue. So if you have your students pay you, you're losing $20 per student just to get them their card. If they're other employees you work with and they aren't paying you, someone has to pay that cost to get those cards, whether it's you, them, or the organization.

Also, since you're technically an independent contractor, you have to provide all of your own supplies, including training AEDs, mannequins, pocket masks, bag valve masks, training CD and materials, etc. This can be quite the expensive set up and get a program going, especially if you're paying for it out of your own pocket.

If you're working for a school and they were willing to pay the costs of set up (to send you to training, to pay for the needed equipment, and be willing to pay the inflated cost the training center sets for the certification cards), then sure maybe not a bad idea. But if you were thinking about doing this on your own, there's a lot that goes into it then you'd originally think.

I was working for a local municipal government at the time and I had to set up a first aid CPR program for the police department, so I had to go through all of this headache.

Let me know if you have any questions.

magnoliablush, BSN, RN · Feb 3, 2019

I am. The school board paid for me to do it, but I really only got certified so that I can teach the high schoolers. Here in 10th grade we get the entire class certified in CPR/AED/FIRST AID. So, the gym teacher & I got certified. The school board keeps our supplies, so we grab them when we need. We do put on a teacher class or two every year, but we get compensated for it. I'm glad I did it.

It wasn't too bad, a full day of class, then we had to be monitored teaching a full class, and then we were done. Just keep a binder with all the teaching/lesson plans, and make sure you have the supplies you need. Teaching was really not difficult. It was mostly a little bit of talking and a lot of pushing the DVD button. Then you watch the students doing the work, checking them off on each thing. Being organized for class (printing out the forms and such) was half the battle. The actual classes are not super hard.

KeeperOfTheIceRN, ADN · Feb 4, 2019

On 2/1/2019 at 8:33 PM, WAboundSN said:
It's an interesting process how it works. I'm assuming you're talking about AHA BLS Instructor.
First, you'll have to find somewhere to take the Instructor certification course. It's usually one 8 hour day of lecture, and then as previously mentioned, you have to be observed teaching a 4 hour class for them to issue you your certification.
Now, to actually teach and issue people AHA CPR Cards, you have to be aligned with an American Heart Association "Training Center." Essentially, you have to be an independent contract for a company that has obtained Training Center status through the AHA. You'd essentially be working for the Training Center as an independent contractor.
Say you run a class of 10 students. The training center doesn't set your fees. But say you charge people $50 for the class. Or say since they're other employees at your organization, you don't want to charge them, as long as you're getting paid to teach the class by your company. That's fine.
At the end of the class, you'll need 10 AHA CPR cards. You have to buy them from AHA, but through the training center you're aligned with. I forget the costs, but for example, AHA might only charge $2 a card, but since you're a contractor through the training center, they might charge you $20 a card, and they pocket that extra $18 as revenue. So if you have your students pay you, you're losing $20 per student just to get them their card. If they're other employees you work with and they aren't paying you, someone has to pay that cost to get those cards, whether it's you, them, or the organization.
Also, since you're technically an independent contractor, you have to provide all of your own supplies, including training AEDs, mannequins, pocket masks, bag valve masks, training CD and materials, etc. This can be quite the expensive set up and get a program going, especially if you're paying for it out of your own pocket.
If you're working for a school and they were willing to pay the costs of set up (to send you to training, to pay for the needed equipment, and be willing to pay the inflated cost the training center sets for the certification cards), then sure maybe not a bad idea. But if you were thinking about doing this on your own, there's a lot that goes into it then you'd originally think.
I was working for a local municipal government at the time and I had to set up a first aid CPR program for the police department, so I had to go through all of this headache.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Wow. I knew there was more to it than I was seeing. My plan was to have my district pay for everything and I'm not even sure they will. I haven't presented the idea to them yet as I wanted to have as much info as I could get before I did that. Thanks for your insight!!

BiscuitStripes, BSN, RN · Feb 6, 2019

On 2/4/2019 at 9:13 AM, KeeperOfTheIceRN said:
Wow. I knew there was more to it than I was seeing. My plan was to have my district pay for everything and I'm not even sure they will. I haven't presented the idea to them yet as I wanted to have as much info as I could get before I did that. Thanks for your insight!!

Sure thing. Search your area for CPR Instructor Certification courses, as this is where you'd need to go to get the instructor training and then you usually align with them as your training center. Find out what they charge per AHA card when you run your classes. That sill give you an idea as to what the cost would actually be to get someone the AHA certification. Your equipment you can buy anywhere, so shop around online. Channing Bete has a lot of that kind of stuff. Feel free to ask me anything else if needed.

KeeperOfTheIceRN, ADN · Feb 6, 2019

14 hours ago, WAboundSN said:
Sure thing. Search your area for CPR Instructor Certification courses, as this is where you'd need to go to get the instructor training and then you usually align with them as your training center. Find out what they charge per AHA card when you run your classes. That sill give you an idea as to what the cost would actually be to get someone the AHA certification. Your equipment you can buy anywhere, so shop around online. Channing Bete has a lot of that kind of stuff. Feel free to ask me anything else if needed.

Ok great! Thank you so much!