Become a Certified CPR & First Aid Instructor: Requirements & Locations

First aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, can prevent injury and death during disasters and everyday medical emergencies. Teaching these techniques multiplies their success, thus increasing the likelihood that a life can be saved.

Answer

• The American Red Cross certifies instructors to help train lifesaving skills to nearly 12 million people, or about 1 in 23 Americans, every year. Instruction can be found at any of several types of locations, such as Red Cross facilities, hospitals, fire stations and training companies.

Requirements

• Aside from a solid background in the subject matter, a potential instructor needs to be able to communicate clearly and listen carefully, have a positive attitude, be patient and flexible and be able to manage a group of people.

Prerequisite

• Before he can take any of the specialty training courses, an instructor needs to take a 4-hour Fundamentals of Instructor Training (FIT) prerequisite, which is valid for 12 months or as long as the instructor rating is maintained.

Recommendations

• The Red Cross recommends people take courses as a student before learning to teach them. This lets the student empathize with her charges because she sees training from their point of view.

Example

• For example, before taking "First Aid/CPR/AED Instructor," one can take the "Adult, Child, Infant CPR and First Aid" course.