American Heart Association (AHA) Instructor Course

So, you have a drive to help OSF ECIEMS and the American Heart Association help reach their goals in reducing cardiovascular disease incidence and deaths? You have a commitment to high quality education and proving people with the skills needed to save a life? You are in the right place! OSF ECIEMS offers instructor courses for qualified candidates in each of the disciplines we teach.

Who should take this course?

Qualified instructors will possess the 5 core competencies defined by the AHA:

The AHA has defined these 5 core competencies for all instructor candidates:

Skills: Instructors need to demonstrate mastery in all skills for the courses they teach. This includes both the cognitive skills as well as the psychomotor skills.
Course delivery: Instructors need to teach AHA materials correctly and as outlined in the appropriate Instructor Manual and Lesson Maps.
Testing: Instructors must be able to test students effectively.
Professionalism: Instructors need to maintain a high standard of ethics and professionalism when teaching AHA courses.
Program administration: Instructors need to be able to manage time, space, materials, and paperwork in compliance with AHA guidelines.

What will I learn?

Identify the prerequisites to becoming an AHA Instructor
Describe the usability of the PAM
Describe the core competencies of an AHA Instructor
Describe the 5 steps of the AHA Instruction Cycle
Identify resources available to an AHA Instructor
Describe how to use discipline-specific AHA instructor materials
Identify discipline specific course formats available to students for completion
Describe discipline-specific course completion requirements
Describe discipline-specific flexibility option available to an AHA Instructor within the course
Describe the requirements for how to maintain an AHA Instructor status
Demonstrate effective AHA Instructor feedback and remediation techniques
Demonstrate structured debriefing skills (not applicable to Heartsaver®)
Demonstrate the administration of skills testing with the use of the skills testing checklists.

Interested in becoming an Instructor?

Interested instructors must complete the following prior to acceptance to the hands-on classroom portion of the instructor program.

Be accepted by an AHA TC before taking the course
Have current provider status in the discipline they wish to teach
Have completed an Instructor Candidate Application
Complete the Core Instructor Course