How to: Become a CPR Instructor Trainer
There are many AHA CPR Instructors, however only some may train other people to be CPR Instructors. This designation is awarded by a CPR Instructors Training Center. It is up to the Training Centers discretion to decide who may be a good fit.
Who qualifies to become a CPR Instructor Trainer? We will discuss this is and the requirements below. Additionally, read on to find out more about the responsibilities of a CPR Instructor Trainer.
Structure of the AHA Training Network
As an AHA Instructor, you were trained through a Training Center. Depending on the Training Center, you may be an instructor directly with them or you may teach through a Training Site.
AHA Training Centers are responsible for the administration and quality of all AHA courses taught by the instructors. Training Centers are also responsible for communicating new guidelines and procedures for class administration to the instructors aligned with them.
For information about how to become an AHA Training Center, read: “How to Become and AHA Training Center.”
Every Training Center will appoint at least 1 ‘Training Faculty’ in the disciplines they teach. The AHA Program Administration Manual (PAM) recommends that Training Centers maintain a ratio of 1 Training Faculty per every 8 instructors aligned with them. However, if a Training Site has less than 12 instructors, just 1 Training Faculty is acceptable. (See page 7, in PAM)
What do AHA Training Faculty do?
Training Faculty are responsible for training new AHA Instructors and monitoring or recertifying existing instructors.
Training New CPR Instructors:
- In order to teach CPR Instructor Classes, an AHA instructor must be a Training Faculty member and have explicit permission from the AHA Training Center that they may teach instructor courses.
- Permission must be given for each course discipline. (If someone is a BLS Training Faculty member, they may teach BLS and Heartsaver Instructor Courses. However, they may not teach ACLS or PALS instructor courses unless their TC awards them as faculty members in this discipline as well.)
- Some people may be Training Faculty that only have permission from their TC to monitor and recertify existing instructors. This is entirely up to the TC’s discretion.
Monitoring and Re Certifying Existing Instructors
- Upon completion of the instructor essentials course training, AHA Instructor Candidates must be monitored by a Training Faculty Member before they become official instructors.
- Within 90 days prior to an instructors certification expiration, they must be monitored by a TF to maintain their status.
Who Qualifies to be AHA Training Center Faculty?
AHA Training Faculty must first be recognized as eligible by their Training Center. Each Training Center may have their own qualifications. Typically, Training Centers look for instructors that are very experienced in teaching themselves. It is important that instructors be well versed in the materials and how to run a classroom in order to teach others how to do so. CPR Instructor Trainers should be some of the best CPR Instructors.
Next, it’s important that Training Faculty Members be able to manage administrative tasks. The role involves completing paperwork and managing those records. Next, it’s important to have systems in place to know when instructors need to be monitored. While it is the individual instructors responsibility to make sure they get monitored, it is helpful when Training Faculty members are ahead of the game and keep instructors from lapsing.
Are Training Faculty Members ‘transferable?’
Training Center Faculty status is an appointment of a Training Center and is an internal position to that Training Center only. If you have TCF status and transfer to another Training Center, it does not confer. However, in most situations a Training Center will recognize the status if an instructor has well kept paperwork and comes from a reputable organization. This is entirely up to the Training Center’s discretion though, and not a status any instructor is entitled to.
Training Faculty Training
It is the responsibility of each Training Center to develop their own process of how to train Training Faculty Members. There is not an AHA course for this, but instead each TF should be well versed the AHA PAM and course administration standards.
Conclusion
If you would like to certify others to be AHA Instructors, you will first need to become a Training Faculty Member under your Training Center. If you are teaching through a Training Site, you will first want to contact them about becoming a TF. If you are aligned directly with a Training Center, you should contact their Training Center Coordinator.
If your Training Center does not wish to make you a Faculty Member, you should inquire why. If it is due to inexperience, then it is likely that other Training Centers would hold the same concern. However, some Training Centers may have policies not to allow Training Faculty members to be from outside their organization (such as a hospital or EMS agency). If this is the case, you may consider aligning with a different Training Center. Read: How to Find the Right AHA Training Center.
