Contact a local CPR training provider such as the American Heart Association or American Red Cross to find out if openings exist for new instructors. Complete instructor courses either online, on CD or in person to learn how to train students and the fundamentals of CPR (see Resources). Before certification is granted, you must face classroom monitoring from either your institution's instructor or an American Heart Association instructor.
Teach your class of aspiring CPR savers how to prevent disease transmission when handling an emergency patient and how to spot a victim who has a communicable disease such as Hepatitis B or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). In addition, show students how to move victims using various methods such as the clothes drag, walking assist or two-person seat carry.
Explain to potential CPR savers the proper emergency action principles, which include surveying an emergency scene, approaching the victim, performing an initial assessment, summoning advanced medical personnel and performing a secondary assessment. Show students how to give a victim rescue breaths. Also, review how to give back blows and chest thrusts to a conscious, choking infant as well as back blows and abdominal thrusts to a conscious choking adult.
Demonstrate how CPR savers should compress the chest of an unconscious choking child or adult. Also, describe how the heart's electrical system works and how savers should perform CPR. Use a mannequin to show them how to give chest compressions and rescue breaths if trying to save a victim by themselves. If working with a second CPR saver, show students how to change positions in less than 5 seconds during CPR to complete different tasks.
Tell students about how an AED, or automated external defibrillator, works and how to use one on a victim. In addition, explain the precautions CPR savers must follow when using this device. Review the course content so students will be prepared to pass both the written and hands-on portions of the CPR certification test.