The objective of this instructor course is to train healthcare professionals to teach the following basic life support (BLS) courses which include skills they will be familiar with due to practicing them in their own scope of practice. The courses are: - IHF / AHA non-certified Family & Friends CPR Course - IHF / AHA certified Heartsaver CPR AED Course - IHF / AHA certified BLS Provider course - IHF / PHECC certified CFR Community Add-On Course
This instructor course is two days in length, during which candidates will practice facilitating a class with role play as both an instructor and provider candidate. Participants will also learn how to administer the course and keep appropriate records, to remediate skills and answer reasonable questions.
To successfully complete the course practical skills must be successfully demonstrated throughout the practical lessons of the course and instructor competencies must be achieved.
Instructor candidates are required to have completed the BLS Provider Course as a prerequisite to attend the BLS Instructor Course and this provider certification must be in date at the time of attending the instructor course.
Instructor candidates must also ensure they have excellent practical BLS skills which include:
The Irish Heart Foundation only recognises BLS/ Heartsaver and CFR training when it is conducted through our affiliated organisations and course exams and completion cards are only issued through the training site coordinators linked to these organisations.
Therefore you may wish to consider aligning yourself to such an affiliated training site prior to going to the effort of attending an instructor course to ensure your training will be able to be certified.
BLS/ CFR Instructors need to be proficient in all BLS/ CFR skills and be able to teach IHF, AHA and PHECC courses correctly and as they were intended – with a high standard of ethics and professionalism. Instructors need to be able to test candidates effectively. Instructors also need to be able to manage space, time, materials and paperwork in compliance with IHF, AHA, PHECC and their own training site’s guidelines.
Once the BLS/ CFR Instructor Course is successfully completed, new BLS/ CFR Instructors must participate in the delivery of at least 3 courses before becoming recognised as an instructor.
Firstly they must teach alongside an experienced instructor, on the second course they should lead the course with the support and guidance of an experienced instructor, and on the third course they must successfully deliver the course.
An instructor candidate’s monitoring must be done within 90 days of completing the instructor course and monitoring must be completed by a current BLS Provincial Faculty member.
A BLS / CFR Community Instructor is required to re-certify every two years in order to stay current as an instructor. BLS Instructors teaching CFR Community courses being certified by the IHF must use either the Heartsaver AED or BLS Provider Course as a basis with a CFR add-on module.
To teach CFR courses through the IHF, instructors are required to keep both AHA BLS Instructor Certification and PHECC CFR Instructor Certification in date. In order to recertify as a CFR Community Instructor through the IHF, an instructor must have taught a minimum of 4 CFR Community courses as add-ons to the Heartsaver or BLS Provider Courses in the two-year period of their certification.
Certification expires at the end of the month two years from the date of the initial training course or last recertification course.
To recertify the instructor must successfully demonstrate all BLS provider skills, complete any relevant updates as required (e.g. guidelines updates) and the instructor should be monitored by a BLS Provincial Faculty member while teaching on a course.
Instructor candidates are required to have completed the BLS Provider Course as a prerequisite to attend the BLS Instructor Course and this provider certification must be in date at the time of attending the instructor course.