Becoming an ACLS instructor requires a current ACLS provider certification, completion of an online essentials course, alignment with a Training Center, and a monitored teaching period before you receive full instructor status. The entire process typically takes a few months from start to finish, depending on how quickly you complete each step and how soon you can schedule your monitored classes.
Prerequisites Before You Start
The most basic requirement is a current ACLS provider card. You cannot apply for instructor training in any discipline without holding an active provider-level certification in that same discipline. This means your card needs to be valid not just when you apply, but throughout your training period.
Beyond the card itself, most Training Centers expect candidates to have clinical experience and a solid command of the ACLS algorithms, medications, and team dynamics covered in the provider course. You’ll be teaching healthcare professionals who ask tough questions during simulations, so real-world experience with cardiac emergencies makes a significant difference in your credibility and effectiveness as an instructor. While the American Heart Association doesn’t mandate a specific professional license, many Training Centers prefer candidates who are nurses, paramedics, physicians, respiratory therapists, or other licensed clinicians.
The AHA Instructor Pathway
The American Heart Association is the most widely recognized body for ACLS instructor certification. The process follows a defined sequence.
Step 1: Align With a Training Center
Before anything else, you need to connect with an AHA-authorized Training Center. This is the organization that will sponsor your candidacy, provide oversight during your training, and ultimately approve your instructor status. You can search for Training Centers through the AHA’s online Atlas system, where you submit an alignment request specifying the discipline you want to teach. The Training Center then reviews your request and either accepts or declines it.
Choosing the right Training Center matters. Some are hospital-based programs, others are independent education companies, and each sets its own expectations for how often instructors teach and what additional qualifications they want. Reach out to a few before committing. Ask how many courses they run per year, whether they provide equipment and classroom space, and what they expect from new instructors.
Step 2: Complete the Instructor Essentials Course
Once aligned, you’ll complete the AHA’s Instructor Essentials course, which is an online, self-paced module covering adult learning principles, AHA course structure, and how to run effective skills stations and simulations. This course teaches you how to facilitate learning rather than simply lecture, which is a core part of the AHA’s teaching methodology. You’ll also need to purchase instructor materials, which typically run in the range of $15 to $60 depending on the format (digital vs. physical manuals).
Step 3: Attend an Instructor Course
After finishing the online portion, you attend a discipline-specific instructor course, usually held in person. This is where you practice running ACLS scenarios, leading megacode stations, and managing a classroom of provider-level students. An experienced instructor or Training Center faculty member evaluates your teaching skills and content knowledge during this session.
Step 4: Complete Monitored Teaching
Passing the instructor course doesn’t make you a fully independent instructor right away. You enter a monitoring phase where you teach portions of actual ACLS provider courses under the observation of an experienced instructor. Your Training Center determines how many monitored sessions you need, but the goal is to confirm you can manage a real class on your own. Once the Training Center faculty signs off on your performance, you receive full instructor status.
What It Costs
The total investment varies because Training Centers set their own fees for the in-person instructor course. AHA instructor materials cost between roughly $15 and $60 depending on which items you need. The instructor course fee charged by your Training Center is a separate cost, and prices range widely. Some hospital-based programs offer the training at low cost to employees they want teaching internally, while independent Training Centers may charge several hundred dollars. Factor in your time as well: between the online essentials, in-person course, and monitored teaching sessions, expect to invest 20 to 40 hours over the span of a few months.
Keeping Your Instructor Status Active
AHA instructor certification isn’t permanent. To renew, you must teach at least four provider courses within every two-year cycle. If you fall short, you can sometimes obtain a waiver, but consistent teaching is the expectation. You also need to keep your own ACLS provider certification current throughout. If your provider card lapses, your instructor status lapses with it.
Training Faculty, a higher-level role where you train and evaluate new instructor candidates, has an additional requirement: teaching at least one instructor or instructor renewal course every two years on top of the four provider courses.
The Red Cross Instructor Bridge
If you already hold an AHA ACLS instructor certification or an equivalent credential from the Health and Safety Institute, the American Red Cross offers a free online bridge course that converts your existing status into a Red Cross Advanced Life Support instructor certification. No in-person class is required. The entire bridge course takes about an hour.
To qualify, you need both a current provider-level certification and a current instructor-level certification from an approved organization. AHA ACLS instructor cardholders are not required to submit separate proof of provider certification, since the AHA already requires its instructors to maintain one. Once you pass the bridge course, you affiliate with a Red Cross Training Provider and can begin teaching Red Cross ALS courses.
This path works in both directions. If you hold a Red Cross ALS provider certification plus an equivalent instructor credential, you already meet the prerequisites for the bridge. The key advantage is speed: rather than repeating a full instructor training program, you demonstrate your existing competency through a streamlined online process.
Tips for Getting Started Efficiently
The biggest bottleneck for most candidates is finding a Training Center willing to align with them. Training Centers want instructors who will teach regularly, so coming in with a plan helps. If you work at a hospital or EMS agency that runs its own ACLS courses, start there. Your employer may sponsor your training and guarantee you a teaching schedule, which solves both the alignment and the renewal problem at once.
If you don’t have a workplace connection, search the AHA’s Training Center directory for organizations in your area and contact their Training Center coordinator directly. Explain your clinical background, why you want to teach, and how many courses per year you could realistically commit to. Coordinators are more likely to invest in candidates who clearly understand the time commitment involved.
Finally, brush up on your ACLS content before the instructor course. You’ll be expected to explain the reasoning behind each algorithm, not just recite it. Understanding the “why” behind interventions, and being able to explain it in plain terms to a room full of providers with varying experience levels, is what separates a competent instructor from a great one.