Importance Of Professional Development

Professional development can be defined as a process in which credentials can be learned or maintained. It is a procedure of personal growing which follows the needs of self-improvement. Professional development includes the aspects that make people advance in order to achieve their goals. Developing and performing as truly professionals is sometimes inherent in individuals. In order to develop as a professional it is important to first grow as a human being to use the right values and morals in the profession.

A professional association has a true impact on guiding professional development. A professional association is an organization that unites professionals from a same field. A professional association is a synergistic group since the

Being active in an association does not mean just to be a member, there is much more. Being active means attending forums, meetings and conferences and also playing a role in the association. It is important as an active professional participant to have a value for the association and be significant. It is both beneficial for the development of the association and for the development of the professional individual. Active participation in a professional association gives several opportunities as participation in projects, different work chances, referrals and others that can have a great impact in the professional career. This semester I have participated in an online webinar, it was an excellent course dedicated for teaching and providing information to physical therapy students about the APTA Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument. Actively participating in this webinar was important and beneficial since it gave me information as a student of physical therapist that otherwise I would had not acquired. I chose a webinar since I wanted to experience how it worked and to see if it could truly make me learn. I planned to do the webinar this semester because although is not as direct as a conference would be, it was the most comfortable way to be involved. I like to think about it as being the first step as a member in the participation scale. For the rest of my experience as a student of physical therapy at Walsh, I am going to be participating in at least one webinar per semester. It is an easy method to stay active in the American Physical Therapy Association, and an easy way to gain beneficial information for my future career. I have planned on going to a seminar next semester in Findlay, Ohio. It is a really interesting seminar about how students are mentored and taught in the context of a doctoring profession. I know they also have international events;