Becoming an EMPACT

Training Center
&
Instructor

CMEDDS Holdings LLC

711 S. Carson Street, Suite 4 
Carson City, NV 89701 
800‐975‐9819 ext. 703 
empactsupport@cmedds.com 
www.empactonline.org 

 EMPACT Program

I. Introduction
The following information describes how to become an EMPACT Training Center and how to
authorize your organization’s instructors to teach EMPACT. You will note that there are several
options in training instructors; the flexibility allows you to select an option best suited for your
needs. Please review all details carefully before selecting an option. Cost, while a major factor
is not the sole determinant of your choice; you must consider the instructor’s level of
experience in both clinical medicine and teaching ability, as well as your organization’s ability
to support the quality aspects of the program.

II. Becoming an EMPACT Training Center

An organization that is interested in teaching the EMPACT course must first apply for, and
receive approval as an EMPACT Training Center (TC). An EMPACT TC can initiate courses,
enroll students and train instructors. There are several steps in this process:

A) Apply to become a TC online at www.empactonline.org. A TC Coordinator, or key point

of contact, must be designated.
B) Review and sign an EMPACT Affiliate Agreement.
C) Review and sign an acknowledgement of the Quality Improvement Document.

Once an organization has been approved as an EMPACT TC, instructors can be trained and
approved to conduct courses.

III. Becoming an EMPACT Instructor

The EMPACT program emphasizes the differential process involving a patient with a medical
complaint. It accomplishes this goal by using a variety of teaching techniques designed to
provoke discussion, debate, and defense of a sound, reasoned patient assessment.

A) Instructor Requirements

It stands to make sense that the EMPACT instructor possesses the following attributes:

• Have a foundational understanding of human anatomy, physiology and

pathophysiology.
• Have a solid clinical background and field experience.
• Be a good facilitator and comfortable with the Socratic method, or at least be willing to
try.
• It is highly likely that the minimum licensure level is paramedic. An EMT will need
significant academic preparation in A&P to facilitate the course. Nurses, Physician
Assistants and Physicians with significant field experience should be able to teach the
EMPACT course.

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New instructors to the program should recognize that there is significant amount of preparation
required to teach the course. There are abundant instructor notes embedded in both the Large
Group presentations and Small Group activities, but they are designed to help facilitate the
flow of the materials only. An instructor can expect to do some background review and
research on specific topics prior to teaching the program.

B) Training as an EMPACT Instructor

There are several ways one can become an EMPACT instructor. Regardless of which pathway
is used, all require some instructor training. The goal of the training is to provide instructors the
opportunity to see modeled behavior and practice facilitation techniques with EMPACT
Instructor Trainer Faculty (ITF).

The instructor candidate to EMPACT ITF ratio is no more than 10:1. This permits adequate
time to for candidates to practice facilitation techniques and closely review the materials.

To prepare for teaching the EMPACT program, instructor candidates may be required to view
the online training modules prior to the instructor training. This is detailed in the following
options.

Option 1: Four-day Rollout

This option is designed for the organization that has little or no experience is teaching
certificate level courses. It provides new instructors the ability to complete a provider course
first, train with EMPACT ITF, then teach their first time with ITF present.

Steps:
1. Instructor Candidates enroll in an EMPACT Hybrid class.
2. Each candidate completes the online portion of the hybrid class.
3. On Day 1, EMPACT ITF lead the small group activities portion of the hybrid course with
the instructor candidates.
4. On Day 2: EMPACT ITF conduct the Instructor Course.
5. On Days 3 & 4, a 2-day EMPACT provider class is facilitated by instructor candidates
and monitored by EMPACT ITF. Instructor candidates need not be present the entire
two days.

Option 2: Three-day Rollout

This option is designed for the organization that has experience in teaching certificate level
courses. Its instructors are certified in one or more advanced life support training course, such
as ACLS or PHTLS. This option is ideal for instructor candidates who wish to teach their first
course with EMPACT ITF present.

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Steps:
1. On Day 1, EMPACT ITF conduct the Instructor Course.
2. On Days 2 & 3, a 2-day EMPACT provider class is facilitated by instructor candidates
and monitored by EMPACT ITF. Instructor candidates MUST be present the entire two
days and participate in the class when not facilitating an activity.

Option 3: Two-Day Rollout

This option is designed for the organization that has significant experience in teaching
certificate level courses. Its instructors are certified in one or more advanced life support
training course, such as ACLS or PHTLS. One or more instructors serve as affiliate or regional
faculty in a specific discipline.

Steps:
1. Instructor Candidates enroll in an EMPACT Hybrid class.
2. Each candidate completes the online portion of the hybrid class.
3. On Day 1, EMPACT ITF lead the small group activities portion of the hybrid course with
the instructor candidates.
4. On Day 2: EMPACT ITF conduct the Instructor Course.
5. When ready, instructor candidates teach their first course. Instructors candidates MUST
be present the entire two days and participate in the class when not facilitating an
activity. Instructor candidates must record 10-15 minutes of their facilitation activity that
is then provided to EMPACT ITF for review and feedback.

Option 4: One-Day Rollout

This option is designed for the organization that has a primary mission of providing education.
Its instructors are certified in one or more advanced life support training course, such as ACLS
or PHTLS. One or more instructors serve as affiliate or regional faculty in a specific discipline.
The organization may be approved to teach primary education programs.

Steps:
1. On Day 1, EMPACT ITF conduct the Instructor Course.
2. When ready, instructor candidates teach their first course. Instructors candidates MUST
be present the entire two days and participate in the class when not facilitating an
activity. Instructor candidates must record 10-15 minutes of their facilitation activity that
is then provided to EMPACT ITF for review and feedback.

Option 5: Online Rollout

This option permits organizations with significant experience in providing education to approve
their highly experienced educators to teach the EMPACT course, without ITF onsite. This
option requires that instructors have reliable access to broadband Internet, in order to
participate in live, online training with ITF.

Steps:
1. Each Instructor Candidate completes the online portion of the EMPACT hybrid program.

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2. The Instructor Candidate then participates in an online EMPACT Instructor Course, led
by EMPACT ITF. This process will allow more than one site to participate
simultaneously, and small numbers from any one site could be accommodated.
3. When ready, instructor candidates teach their first course. Instructors candidates MUST
be present the entire two days and participate in the class when not facilitating an
activity. Instructor candidates must record 10-15 minutes of their facilitation activity that
is then provided to EMPACT ITF for review and feedback.

C) Teaching the organization’s first EMPACT class

An EMPACT instructor should ideally be exposed to the material prior to becoming an

instructor. The traditional route is to train instructor candidates first as providers, then provide
an instructor course. As this is a new course for your organization, we want to avoid the
“chicken and egg” issue. New sites can teach their first course, with new instructors who are
not providers. This event is allowed to occur ONE time only; it is imperative that any future
instructors in your organization first complete the provider course prior to becoming an
instructor.

In this first class, the instructor candidates can receive their provider class certificate of
completion as long as they are present during all 16 hours of the course, and participate as
students when they are not facilitating discussion. These instructor candidates must
successfully complete the final examination as well.

D) Cost to train instructors

Option 1: Four-day Rollout - $7,700.00

Option 2: Three-day Rollout - $6,475.00
Option 3: Two-Day Rollout - $5,400.00
Option 4: One-Day Rollout - $5,050.00
Option 5: Online Rollout - $ 100.00 Per Instructor

Each of these options is based on a maximum number of 20 Instructor Candidates. The

EMPACT ITF ratio is no more than 10:1. If you require a larger class, please call to discuss
the final pricing.

IV. Maintaining Approval to teach EMPACT

The length of approval is four years, from the date of the original instructor-training course.
During those four years, instructors must teach at least 1 course annually. The EMPACT
Training Center coordinator renews the approval status of the instructor when evidence of
teaching the required number of courses is documented in the EMPACT database.

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V. Teaching an EMPACT course

EMPACT instructors are encouraged to make the course as engaging and lively as possible.
To promote that spirit, instructors must follow these key points:

1. Have FUN. The program is designed to create a learning environment where both
instructor and student are learning and teaching at the same time. Encourage dialogue,
and don’t be afraid to ask questions that promote further, deeper exploration of a topic.

2. Small group activities should ideally have 4 to 7 students per instructor. Beta testing
revealed that any more or less doesn’t foster the spontaneous level of discussion that
makes the cases come alive. If, because of operational constraints, a smaller or larger
group must occur, instructors must ensure that all students participate in discussion.
The maximum number of students in a Small Group Activity is 10 per instructor.

3. It is probable that individual instructors have unusual images, cases, and other points
that would like to add to the program. In general, instructors should feel free to add to
the materials. However, instructors cannot remove any materials from the course, in
order to maintain CECBEMS credit requirements. Any material added to the existing
course must be CLEARLY identified as not part of the EMPACT core material.

4. The EMPACT program is highly modular. In general, instructors should feel free to
move modules around and set the course schedule based on operational needs.
However, the total hours of instruction MUST be no less than 16 hours. Clock hours
must be documented clearly by date and time. Additionally, students must complete the
Medical Assessment and ABC module prior to participating in remaining portions of the
class.

5. Students must complete ALL modules of EMPACT and pass the written final exam
before an instructor can issue a CECBEMS CE certificate of completion. The final
written exam is NOT a group activity, nor is it an open book test.

6. Students MUST have a copy of the EMPACT textbook, and they MUST have the pretest
completed prior to the beginning of the course.

V. EMPACT Course Fees

The following table shows the current EMPACT Pricing for purchasing seats. Pricing has been
broken down by organizational type – Domestic, Military, and International. All EMPACT seats
are purchased online at the EMPACT website www.empactonline.org. Seats may only be
purchased by approved Training Center, key contacts.

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 EMPACT Program

The following table illustrates the breakdown of seat pricing for the EMPACT Program broken
down by organizational type:

Domestic Military International

(US Dollars) (US Dollars) (US Dollars)

EMPACT Provider
$15.00 $10.00 $15.00
Course Fee

EMPACT Hybrid
Provider Course $100.00 $ 75.00 $100.00
(8-hours)

EMPACT Instructor
Course (4-hours) –
$50.00 $ 40.00 $50.00
taught only by
Regional Faculty

EMPACT Online
Hybrid Instructor $100.00 $ 75.00 $100.00
Course (8-hours)

Training Center
$250.00 $ 225.00 $250.00
Materials Fee

The purchases of seats are non-refundable and non-transferrable.

Rescheduling/Cancellation policy: For Hybrid On-line Instructor course: participants

may reschedule once for a $25.00 fee when CMEDDS is given 5 days advance written
notice, with less than 5 days advance written notice the rescheduling fee is one-half the
course fee. Failure to attend or cancelation the day of the session results in a forfeiture
of fees and you will be required to pay for an entire course again.

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