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 and First Aid

Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries

Oxygen First Aid for Aquatic Emergencies

Advanced Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries

First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries

Automated External Defibrillators for Scuba Diving

Basic Life Support for Dive Professionals

On-Site Neurological Assessment for Divers

Diving First Aid for Professional Divers

Diving Emergency Management Provider Program

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 DAN BLSFA 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.


These DAN IQC modules have additional prerequisites:

Dive Medicine for Divers: Part 2 or Part 3

You must be certified to offer the previous level of Dive Medicine for Divers course. The courses are structured to be sequential.

Diving First Aid for Professional or Commercial Divers

To qualify, the candidate must:

meet the qualifications to be a DAN Instructor, listed above

or have an affiliation with an aquarium, scientific diving program or a commercial diving operation

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:

DAN Basic Life Support and First Aid

Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries

First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries

On-Site Neurological Assessment for Divers

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

Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries: 4-5 hours

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

On-Site Neurological Assessment for Divers: 2-3 hours

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

Basic Life Support for Dive Professionals: 8 hours

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.