How to become a CPR instructor

American Heart Association (AHA)

You need a current AHA provider card in the discipline you want to teach, such as BLS or Heartsaver, before you start. Heartsaver and BLS instructors must be at least 18. ACLS, PALS and PEARS instructors must also be at least 18 and licensed or certified in a healthcare occupation where those skills are within their scope of practice. You also need an AHA Training Center that is accepting new instructor candidates; the Training Center tells you which paperwork it needs.

American Red Cross

For the First Aid/CPR/AED instructor course you must be at least 16 on the last day of the course and hold a current Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED certificate, or a higher-level or equivalent one. The Basic Life Support instructor course asks for a current Red Cross BLS certificate or its equivalent. Before you teach your first class, you must affiliate with a Red Cross Training Provider, or become one.

Health & Safety Institute (HSI)

HSI’s instructor course is open to people who are at least 17 and hold a current provider certification, or can demonstrate competency, in adult, child and infant CPR, AED and first aid. Finishing the course doesn’t authorize you on its own: you then affiliate with an approved HSI Training Center, which applies for your authorization, or you set up your own Training Center.

NSC and ECSI

The National Safety Council’s three-day in-person instructor course certifies you as a provider first and then trains you to teach; its instructors teach through an NSC Training Center or, as public instructors, independently. ECSI’s 11-hour in-person instructor course needs a current ECSI card or one from another nationally recognized organization, and ECSI instructors work through an ECSI Education Center.

1. Choose the organization and the course. Decide who you want to teach. BLS suits healthcare workers and students, while community and workplace courses, such as the AHA’s Heartsaver or the Red Cross’s First Aid/CPR/AED, suit everyone else. Some employers ask for a specific organization’s card, so find out what the people you want to teach need.
2. Get or renew your provider certification. Take the provider course you want to teach, if your card isn’t current. For the AHA, the card has to be in that discipline; for the Red Cross, a current Red Cross certificate or an equivalent.
3. Find a training center that will take you. AHA candidates search the AHA’s Atlas system for a Training Center that is accepting new instructors. Red Cross candidates can take an instructor class from the Red Cross or from a Training Provider. HSI candidates need an approved Training Center, or can start their own.
4. Complete the online part. The AHA’s is called Instructor Essentials; its online Core module is done once, whichever discipline you teach. The Red Cross and HSI both put online content before the classroom.
5. Attend the in-person instructor class. Expect to practice teaching, give and receive feedback, and prove your own skills. The Red Cross’s course includes a skills session and practice teaching, and HSI’s in-person session runs 8 hours.
6. Be monitored teaching (AHA). AHA instructor candidates complete a monitoring portion before their instructor card is issued, and since June 2023 that first monitoring has had to be in person.
7. Receive your instructor certification and join your training center. An AHA Training Center issues your instructor eCard, then you request alignment with it in Atlas and become an approved instructor once it accepts. Red Cross instructors report classes and issue certificates through the Red Cross Learning Center under their Training Provider.
8. Teach your first class. Order the instructor materials, line up your equipment and students, and schedule your first class. The guide to starting a CPR business covers the business side.

AHA prices are for the online Instructor Essentials part on the AHA’s ShopCPR store: $36.00 for Heartsaver and $43.90 for BLS, ACLS and PALS. The Red Cross price is for its own class in Chicago; classes run by Training Providers set their own prices. HSI adds a $49.99 fee if you set up a new Training Center.

Instructor manuals cost about $45 to $55 each on the AHA’s and the Red Cross’s stores: $53.05 for the AHA’s BLS Instructor Manual in print, $53.95 for the Red Cross’s First Aid/CPR/AED Instructor’s Manual and $45.00 for its BLS Instructor’s Manual. Some training centers include the manual in the course fee, so ask.

On top of the course and manual, plan for your own provider certification if it isn’t current and, if you will teach on your own, manikins and AED trainers: the Red Cross’s instructor starter kits run $1,100.90 to $2,181.60. The full cost guide breaks down each organization’s fees, the other costs and a first-year budget.

• Red Cross: the Red Cross’s own First Aid/CPR/AED instructor classes in Chicago run from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM on a single day, after the online content.
• HSI: an online segment plus an 8-hour in-person session.
• NSC: a three-day in-person course that includes your own provider certification.
• ECSI: an 11-hour in-person course.
• AHA: the online part, an in-person class and a monitored class; the Training Center sets the schedule.

If you need a provider card first, an AHA BLS Provider course takes about 4.5 hours, or 1 to 2 hours online plus a 1 to 2 hour skills session in the blended HeartCode BLS format.

AHA

An AHA instructor card lasts two years, through the end of the month. To renew, instructors must teach at least four courses in those two years, attend the updates the AHA requires, be monitored teaching before their status expires and keep their own provider status. Since July 1, 2025, BLS and Heartsaver instructors earn four credits in two years, and up to two of them can come from community courses such as Family & Friends CPR. Renew before the card expires: a Training Center can’t renew an instructor card that has already expired, so the instructor has to go through the new-instructor process again.

American Red Cross

Red Cross instructor certifications last two years. Most instructors renew with an online recertification course, which the Red Cross Learning Center assigns 90 days before expiry, and must also teach a minimum number of courses that depends on the program. Instructors may also need to keep their own provider certification.

HSI, NSC and ECSI

HSI authorizes instructors for one year at a time; to be reauthorized you must have taught or co-taught at least one class that year and be affiliated with a Training Center that holds a current HSI program. NSC instructor credentials renew every two years after the first year. ECSI renews instructors automatically, at no cost, when they have taught at least two ECSI courses in their two-year period.

• Equipment: the Red Cross recommends one manikin and one AED trainer for every two or three students, plus a breathing barrier for each student.
• Materials: the instructor manual for each course you teach, and the student materials or cards your organization requires.
• A business: registration, insurance and prices; see how to start a CPR business.
• Students: a booking page, a Google Business Profile and employers who need their staff trained; see how to market CPR classes.

Wondering what the work pays? What CPR instructors make covers it. If you plan to teach AHA courses under your own name one day, read about AHA Training Centers and Training Sites.

See how JoinCPR works for independent CPR instructors.