ABLS Instructor

Description: An Advanced Burn Life (ABLS) Instructor is a burn care subject matter expert who has been trained and certified to teach the ABLS Live program.

Who is eligible to be an ABLS Instructor: ABLS Instructors are ABA members and burn care professionals; individuals that hold a clinical degree with a minimum of 3 years of experience working at a burn center with the exception of paramedics. Paramedics are required to be affiliated with an ABA Burn Center through regular participation in the burn center’s programs. Eligible ABLS instructors must take the ABLS instructor course after which they are Instructor Candidates until they have fulfilled and passed the teaching observations.

Pre-requisites:

  1. Burn Care Professional with a minimum of 3 years of CURRENT experience working in a burn center. A burn care professional is an individual that holds a clinical degree, e.g. physician, nurse, advanced practice professional (PA, NP), OT, PT, or paramedic and works in burn care. If you hold a clinical degree not listed here, a letter of intent to the ABLS committee and a letter of support from your Burn Medical Director are required for consideration of your candidacy by the committee. Paramedics are required to be affiliated with an ABA Burn Center through regular participation in burn center programing or education.
  2. ABLS Certified for a minimum of one (1) year. (Must have completed the ABLS Live course no less than 12 months prior to the Instructor Course). ABLS NOW© Certification is not sufficient to become an instructor.

Requirements for certification: After successful completion of the ABLS Instructor course, an Instructor Candidate must undergo 2 separate ABLS Live course observations by ABLS National Faculty while teaching all 3 components of ABLS Live during the same course [a predesignated variety of lectures, case studies, patient assessments (see below)], all within 1 year of completion of the Instructor course. There will no longer be different requirements for different burn care professionals, all instructors will be held to the same high-quality standard.

  1. Instructor Candidates must teach one of the following lectures and may not teach the same lecture in both observations:
    • Initial Assessment
    • Airway and Inhalation Injury
    • Shock and Fluid Resuscitation
    • Pediatric Burns
  2. Instructor Candidates may teach any of the case studies and patient assessments in their observations but must teach different case studies and patient assessments between the two observations.

Requirements to maintain certification:

  1. Maintain active ABA membership
  2. Teach all 3 components of the ABLS Live course at least 3 times within the 4 years certification
  3. Complete the ABLS assessment test with each course revision
  4. Continue working in a Burn Center, with the exception of the Paramedic. Paramedics are required to continue to be affiliated with an ABA Burn Center.
  5. Instructor certification is valid for 4 years

Failure to meet any of these requirements will result in immediate loss of instructor status. To reinstate instructor status, you will have to begin the instructor candidacy process from the start with taking the instructor course.

Instructor Search

Coordinator

Description: An ABLS Coordinator is an ABLS Instructor with additional training to lead and manage an ABLS course.

Who is eligible to be a Coordinator: ABLS Coordinators are ABLS Instructors who work at a burn center and wish to be responsible for planning and executing an ABLS Course.

Requirements for certification: ABLS Instructor certification; completion of ABLS Coordinator webinar. Webinars are held quarterly.

Requirements to maintain certification: Maintain active ABA membership and Instructor certification.  Coordinator Certification is good for 4 years, to recertify must review current ABLS Coordinator webinar.

Coordinator Search

National Faculty

Description: An ABLS instructor in good standing who has demonstrated educational excellence in the delivery of the ABLS course material. This person has demonstrated consistent superiority in teaching the ABLS course content and is a respected educator and expert in the field of burn care. National Faculty status is not simply the “next level” of ABLS instructor, it is a highly specialized educator role within the ABLS program. These members are tasked with dissemination of the ABLS Live and instructor courses to ensure the utmost integrity of the ABLS educational content and product.

Who is eligible to be National Faculty: National Faculty (NF) are ABA members who have maintained their ABLS instructor status in good standing for a minimum of 5 years.

Pre-Requisites:

  1. ABLS Instructor for a minimum of 5 years. NF candidates must have kept their instructor status in good standing meaning their ABLS instructor credentials could not have lapsed in that time period, they must have maintained ABA membership during that time, have completed all course updates, have had consistent positive reviews of their teaching skills, and have had no complaints on teaching record.
  2. Submit a letter of interest to the ABLS program. An individual interested in becoming ABLS National Faculty should submit a letter of interest to the ABLS program outlining their interest and experience with the ABLS program.
  3. Support from local burn center leadership. A letter of support from the candidate’s burn center leadership is required to be considered for NF status. This letter should highlight the applicant’s record as educator of burn content.
  4. Review and confirmation of status eligibility from the ABLS committee and central office. Central office will receive all requests for NF status, after confirming that the candidate meets the pre-requisites, the central office will forward the request for status and letter of support to the ABLS committee who will review and approve at their scheduled monthly meeting.

Requirements for National Faculty Status:  After meeting the prerequisites, the National Faculty Candidate must attend the National Faculty training webinar on how to teach the instructor course and must be observed teaching the ABLS Instructor Course by an existing National Faculty member who has already attended the training. They must achieve excellent marks teaching the course. Once the individual has completed the observations and uploaded the forms, their application will be reviewed and approved by the ABLS education coordinator.

Requirements to maintain National Faculty status:

  1. Maintain all requirements for ABLS Instructor
  2. Teach an ABLS instructor course a minimum of 2 times in 4 years
  3. Complete all continuing education related to changes or improvements in the ABLS instructor course
  4. Maintain good standing as an ABLS instructor and NF member. Any concerns or complaints related to the member’s dissemination of the ABLS course content will be reviewed by the ABLS committee and central office and may result in immediate removal of NF status.
  5. National Faculty status will continue as long as ABLS instructor status continues provided the above criteria are met. If the NF member loses ABLS instructor status, they will lose NF status as well and will need to complete the 5 years in good standing as an instructor before being considered for NF again.

Contact the ABA Central Office, abls@ameriburn.org, with questions.