An AHA ECC course must meet all the following criteria before if is referred to an AHA course and a course completion card can be issued to the student(s). The intent of this policy is to ensure consistent quality in AHA courses wherever they are taught.
- The course instructor(s) must be a current AHA-recognized instructor. Specialty Faculty with expertise in a particular content area may assist AHA Instructors in advanced life support courses. Specialty Faculty do not count in the required student-to-instructor ratio as outlined in the appropriate Instructor Manual.
- The course must be taught according to the guidelines and core curriculum set forth in the current editions of the AHA course textbook(s) and/or Instructor Manual(s). An instructor can add topics before or after the AHA core curriculum, so long as the addition of these topics does not interrupt the flow of the course or impact the instructional design of the course.
- For Instructor Lead courses, each student must have the current appropriate course textbook readily available for use before, during, and after the course. Textbooks are designed for individual use and are an integral part of the student’s education before, during, and after the course. Students may reuse their textbooks during renewals until new science guidelines are published. For Blended Learning courses, the student must complete the Online portion of the Blended Learning course prior to completing the classroom/skills portion.
- The current edition of AHA course materials, video(s), and exams must be used. Using the course Video(s) is mandatory in classroom courses. Blended Learning courses include these materials and exams.
- After successful course completion, the appropriate AHA course completion eCard must be issued to each student. The course completion eCard must meet all AHA eCard issuance requirements and must be issued to the student with twenty (20) days of courses completion. This completes the certification process.
- A course evaluation form must be used in each ECC course to obtain feedback from students on course content and instructors. The AHA strongly encourages the use of the AHA’s course evaluation form on the Instructor Network. If a TC elects to use its own evaluation form, the form must contain all the information on the AHA’s course evaluation form. Note: For facilities or TCs using eCards, course evaluations are no longer required to be on paper.
If an Instructor chooses to offer a credentialing AHA Course ( Heartsaver, BLS, ACLS, PALS, PEARS ) but not issue the appropriate AHA eCards, then, that fails to meet the criteria of an AHA Course. The students do not received certification for an AHA credentialing course and the Instructor Does Not received credit for teaching an AHA credentialing Course ( Heartsaver, BLS, ACLS, PALS, PEARS). A Course Roster Can Not Serve in the place of a Certification eCard and proof of certification.
An Instructor / organization may choose to use the CPR for Family & Friends ( Non credentialing ) Course. This courses provides a participation card that is attached to the CPR for Family & Friends student textbook. This is not a certification card and the CPR for Family & Friends is not considered a certification course. Simply follow the guidelines for the CPR for Family & Friends course by using the Family and Friends Courses video and support material.