Information in this article was current at time of posting. Please refer to the American Heart Association Program Administration Manual section on Use of AHA Materials for up to date information.
Use of American Heart Association Materials
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. Students may reuse their textbooks during renewals or updates until new science guidelines are published.
Employee Libraries
The only exceptions to all students having their personal/appropriate course textbook are as follows:
- TCs that are hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS) agencies, or fire departments and that train only their own employees may establish a library of healthcare-level provider textbooks (“Employee Library”) for the use of their employees in training and during working hours.
- The Employee Library must contain at least as many copies of the applicable textbook as the average number of employees trained in the given discipline during a 3-month period.
- Each copy of the textbook must be the current edition, in good condition, and include all original parts.
- The Employee Library must be open and textbooks available to the trained employees at their worksite during their working hours. This means that a TC that wishes to use the library exception with trained employees at several different facilities will need to establish an Employee Library at each facility. A trained employee is one who has completed an AHA course within the past 2 years.
- All other requirements for delivery of training must be met as defined in the appropriate Instructor Manual and training materials.
- The AHA recognizes the opportunity to support advocacy for CPR in schools, and it will allow a library of books for K-12 schools that meet these conditions:
- Establishing a library of books should be considered for K-12 schools in areas where legislation mandates training or the school systems have no budget or sustainable resources for the training. K-12 schools should review local AHA advocacy efforts and request that the Community CPR managers provide resources where possible.
- Library options are available only for Heartsaver and Family & Friends® CPR Courses in K-12 schools. If established, a library of books for a K-12 school must provide each student with a book to use before, during, and after the course.
- K-12 schools with healthcare-related programs cannot use a library option for BLS Provider Manuals because of the nature of these programs; in these cases, each student must have his or her own book for the duration of the course.
TCs that fail to comply with the requirements may not issue eCards or course completion cards.
TCs using the Employee Library exception must have a written policy, that provides direction on how the library will be implemented and monitored.