Continuing Education: A Clinician's Guide to Monitoring and Promoting Competence

The pressures of practice in a rapidly changing healthcare environment require therapists to maintain refined practice skills. Although continuing education is a commonly cited term, how it contributes to monitoring and promoting competence is often not discussed in detail. The purpose of this article is to describe three themes related to continuing education and competence that emerged in a review of the professional literature. These three themes are elements of competence, monitoring competence and methods to promote competence to assist clinicians in their own professional development.