Instructor Qualification Course (IQC)

DAN Instructors are scuba diving educators who want to offer dive safety programs to their students. As a DAN Instructor, you can offer your students classes that will help make them better prepared to respond to a dive emergency. We offer the following classes:

Basic Life Support: CPR and First Aid

Neurological Assessment

Emergency Oxygen for Scuba Diving Injuries

First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries

Diving Emergency Management Provider

CPR Health-Care Provider with First Aid

Diving First Aid for Professional Divers

Dive Medicine for Divers Level 1

Dive Medicine for Divers Level 2

Dive Medicine for Divers Level 3

To become a DAN Instructor, you must participate in a DAN Instructor Qualification Course (IQC).

The IQC follows a modular format. There is a core module and then a separate module for each training program. As long as you remain a current and active DAN Instructor, you can take additional modules without retaking the core module. The core module is online in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Getting Started
To be eligible to take a DAN IQC, you must be the following:

an active DAN Member

an active scuba diving educator*

a current CPR/first aid instructor (You may complete the Basic Life Support: CPR and First Aid course to fulfill this requirement.)

Note about the scuba diving educator requirement: Any scuba diving instructor or assistant instructor with a recognized scuba training organization can attend the IQC. A Divemaster/DiveCon who is also a CPR and first aid instructor with a recognized training agency can also attend the IQC.

Diving First Aid for Professional Divers

To qualify, the candidate must:

meet the qualifications to be a DAN Instructor, listed above

be a current DAN Member

Diving Emergency Management Provider

To offer this program, DAN Instructor Trainers and Instructors must be in active teaching status for:

Basic Life Support: CPR and First Aid

Emergency Oxygen for Scuba Diving Injuries

First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries

Neurological Assessment

Qualifications of DAN Instructors
Successful completion of the DAN IQC results in certification recognizing the instructor candidate's understanding and performance of the knowledge and skills contained within this program.

Instructors must maintain active teaching status with DAN to conduct DAN training programs. To maintain active teaching status, DAN Instructors must teach or assist with teaching each course in which they are certified once within a 24-month period.


Recommended Minimum Hours of Training
Knowledge and Skills Development

Core module: 3 hours

Emergency Oxygen for Scuba Diving Injuries: 4-5 hours

First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries: 2-3 hours

Neurological Assessment: 2-3 hours

Basic Life Support: CPR and First Aid: 3-4 hours

CPR Health-Care Provider with First Aid: 8 hours

Diving First Aid for Professional Divers: 6 hours

Dive Medicine for Divers: 6 hours (Level I-III)

The time the course actually takes to teach varies depending upon many factors, including the number of students and their ability to process the educational components of the program along with the number of modules offered. DAN Instructor Trainers desiring to include subjects or training beyond the course requirements may do so only before or following the course. Any additional training must not be required for completion of course requirements.


Course Summary
The DAN Instructor Trainer must ensure that the instructor candidate is able to successfully demonstrate the ability to perform the required skills for each certified program in a role-model fashion.


Read the IQC Frequently Asked Questions.

Take the IQC Core Module Online.