Continuing education - does it make for a more competent practitioner?

It is more than two decades since mandatory continuing education (MCE) was introduced in the United States and barely a decade since some professional associations adopted MCE in Australia. The value of MCE as a means of maintaining or improving professional competence remains unclear. Despite there being no clear cut evidence of enhanced competence, no profession having adopted MCE has returned to a policy of voluntary continuing education. In Australia there appears to be a drift of health professions into mandatory continuing education. If MCE is adopted by the physiotherapy profession, what will the reasons be? The challenge is to clearly establish the links between continuing education, professional competence and health outcomes.