Continuing education: avoiding professional obsolescence.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how professional excellence can be maintained by participation in continuing education, thus avoiding professional obsolescence, and to describe essential factors in planning programs. Health professionals must recognize that lifetime licensure in a health care field is no longer a viable method of operation. Mandatory recertification requiring continuing educational experiences seems to present a possible alternative. Factors that contribute to professional obsolescence are reviewed and a rationale supporting continuing educational experience is developed. It is argued that health care professionals must participate in lifelong educational experience to maintain professional competence. Processes for planning continuing education programs for health professionals are reviewed. Seven steps necessary for program planning are outlined: set the philosophy, goals, objectives, obstacles, scope and the control and evaluation guidelines. The factors that reduce resistance to change and facilitate planning are discussed. The author concludes by noting that the health professional will become incompetent and a danger to the health care delivery system if he or she ignores the need for continuing education.