Keep the passion of lifelong learning alive—9 key takeaways

As members of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA’s) Commission on Continuing Competence and Professional Development (CCCPD), we often experience frequency illusion when it comes to subjects such as continuing competence, lifelong learning, professional development planning, and more. Frequency illusion is the phenomenon that occurs when you focus your attention on a subject and that subject becomes so much more noticeable in your daily life. Attending the AOTA INSPIRE 2022 Conference was no exception to experiencing this phenomenon. Messages that connected to AOTA’s recently revised Standards for Continuing Competence in Occupational Therapy were everywhere. As an official document, this core resource describes the standards to analyze one’s engagement in “the occupation of continuing competence” (AOTA, 2021, p. 5). Occupational therapy practitioners can then uncover their next steps, identify their strengths to build upon, and develop a meaningful continuing professional development plan. Repeating this process throughout their career sets them on a path to “lifelong learning and a commitment to continuing competence that benefits all stakeholders” (AOTA, 2021, p. 2).