- Live online
- In-house
- 6 CPD hours
Root Cause Analysis and Critical Thinking In-house Training ★★★★★
Six-hour CPD-certified training course teaching pharmaceutical professionals how to identify true problem sources rather than symptoms using critical thinking principles. More details...
Live online
- 09:30 - 17:00 UK (London) (UTC+00)
- 10:30 - 18:00 Paris (UTC+01)
- 04:30 - 12:00 New York (UTC-05)
Course code 16562
£499 / €699 / $803
Pricing details: multiple places, early booking discounts
Live online
- 09:30 - 17:00 UK (London) (UTC+01)
- 10:30 - 18:00 Paris (UTC+02)
- 04:30 - 12:00 New York (UTC-04)
Course code 17189
3rd place FREE
£499 / €699 / $803
Pricing details: multiple places, early booking discounts
Live online
- 09:30 - 17:00 UK (London) (UTC+00)
- 10:30 - 18:00 Paris (UTC+01)
- 04:30 - 12:00 New York (UTC-05)
Course code 17507
3rd place FREE
£499 / €699 / $803
Pricing details: multiple places, early booking discounts
Tailored to your team's requirements, at your choice of location or online.
From
£400
Per delegate, based on 10 delegates and a duration of 1 day
Course overview
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is the process of discovering the root causes of problems to identify solutions. When used with critical thinking, the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas this provides a highly effective method for identifying the source of faults, failures, decision making, and undesired outcomes for processes. This approach is extremely effective when used by the pharmaceutical and associated healthcare industries to solve problems. In addition, RCA procedures with the application of critical thinking are an increasing focus by regulatory inspectors.
Often organisations waste a great amount of time and money in fixing the symptoms of a problem, rather than the problem itself. Using Critical thinking applied to RCA will enable you to solve problems far quicker, and much more effectively.
This one-day course introduces delegates to different RCA and critical thinking problem-solving tools and techniques which are then applied throughout a series of highly interactive and practical exercises putting these theories into practice to apply a systematic end-to-end process for analysing problems and decision making.
This training course is part of our collection of Leadership & Management Training Courses which focus on leadership, innovation, strategy, communication, finance, problem solving and conflict management, to name a few key areas.
Benefits of attending
- Apply best practice tools and techniques to identify, and document the root causes of problems
- Propose and evaluate solutions to prevent problems recurring and manage regulatory inspection findings
- Communicate your findings and recommendations to colleagues and senior management
- Gain an overview of the increasing importance of RCA and critical thinking skills for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical and associated healthcare sectors
- Understand the critical thinking and application to RCA
- Be aware of key tools and approaches to apply critical thinking to RCA for pharmaceutical and associated healthcare industries
Who should attend?
Anyone working in the pharmaceutical, biopharma, medical device and veterinary industries who wants to maximise RCA and critical thinking skills, particularly applied to problem solving and decision making including the following:
- Managers responsible for process and quality improvements
- Professionals working in R&D and production
- Quality managers, internal and external auditors, inspectors
- Line managers and supervisors
- Anyone involved in managing customer and/or supplier/CMOs, CRO relationships
- Problem solving team members and leaders
- Product or process designers
- Operational and production professionals
This course will cover:
Background and defining RCA and critical thinking
Steps in RCA and applying critical thinking
Preventive and mitigating problems
- Preventive action
- Risk analysis
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
Diagnosing RCA
RCA methodologies
- Brainstorming
- Ishikawa Diagrams
- The five “Whys"
- Is/is not
- Process maps
Critical thinking
- Overview of background
- Define critical thinking, decision making and problem solving and understand the differences
- Examine types of decisions & problems in the pharma industry
- Understand the focus of critical thinking in ICH Designing Quality
- Applying critical thinking to thinking questions to go beyond checklists
- Tools and approaches for critical thinking to use in the pharmaceutical and associated healthcare industries including:
- RED
- Thinking outside the box
- Ways to improve your critical thinking
- Application to RCA
18 Nov 2026
Farah Nadeem
Paul R. Palmer Limited
Farah Nadeem is an Operations Manager at Paul R. Palmer Limited/ Pharmaceutical Consultant and a Trainee Qualified Person. Farah is a Pharmacist and recognised QA expert and has over 20 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical industry in the development, manufacture and supply of medicinal products.
Throughout her career, she has held various quality assurance roles and actively pursued new opportunities to expand her knowledge and expertise. As a result, she has gained a comprehensive understanding of manufacturing, storage, and distribution processes, as well as the facilities and services that support them. Involved in documentation management: writes, reviews, and audits SOPs and QMS implementations. Assists companies in meeting regulatory requirements.
In her current role as a QA Operations Manager for a Pharmaceutical Consultant Company, Farah Nadeem provides various solutions, including assistance in obtaining the first MIA(IMP) and MIA licenses, as well as preparation and hosting for regulatory inspections. Her work involves collaborating with Paul Palmer to offer services such as QP declarations for API manufacturers, regulatory inspection hosting, commercial and clinical batch release, compliance audits, and coaching and training in GxP.
24 May 2027
22 Nov 2027
Laura Brown
Independent Pharmaceutical Consultant
Dr Laura Brown is a QA and training consultant in the pharmaceutical industry. She has also worked as an Associate Facilitator at Cranfield School of Management. She has worked in senior management roles for companies including Wellcome, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Good Clinical Research Practices and Phoenix International where she gained extensive experience of problem solving and decision-making using RCA and critical thinking skills. Since completing her MBA Laura has co-authored several books on management including: Strategic Thinking (Be Your Own Strategy Consultant – Demystifying) Strategic Thinking), Developing the Individual, The Ultimate Book of Business Skills and Project Management for the Pharmaceutical Industry.
18 Nov 2026
Aneta Jell
Paul R Palmer
Aneta Jell is a seasoned Quality Assurance professional with over 20 years of experience across manufacturing, contract operations, and quality leadership in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently serving as Quality and training manager at PaulPalmer limited she oversees global contract manufacturing quality, ensuring GxP compliance, regulatory alignment, and supply chain integrity. Her expertise spans GMP, ISO 9001, ISO 17025, and QMS administration, with proven strength in audits, CAPA, deviations, and technical agreements. A qualified QMS lead auditor with bilingual proficiency in English and Slovak, Aneta is recognised for driving continuous improvement, fostering compliance culture, and leading high-performing quality and HSE teams.
Reviews of IPI's Root Cause Analysis and Critical Thinking training course
Very good. Also the form of how it was conducted with the exercises
Nov 24 2025
Alessandro Salvi 
Quality Assurance Specialist, ICE Pharma Group
Nov 25 2024
I would recommend. 5*. The breakout rooms [were particularly] a great way to interact and to learn from others.
Yesenia Salguero 
Document Control Specialist, UNITED THERAPEUTICS Corp
Nov 6 2023
The speaker was excellent - she really knew her subject matter. She was clear and very reassuring
Susan Reijntjes 
Principal Medical Writing Scientist, Johnson & Johnson
Nov 6 2023
The speaker was excellent - she really knew her subject matter. She was clear and very reassuring.
Susan Reijntjes
Principal Medical Writing Scientist, Johnson & Johnson
Nov 6 2023
Laura Brown presented the information excellently, it was very understandable.
Anna Vasiljeva 
Quality risks management specialist , JSC Olainfarm
Jul 25 2023
[The speaker was] very kind and was able to make a relaxed environment where people felt comfortable
Linda Nielsen 
Drug Safety Manager, Pharmalex
May 6 2022
It was very interesting webinar, good content, interesting speaker who was able to engage all group in the activities
Aleksandra Cyba
Regulatory Affairs Associate, Terumo Aortic
United Kingdom
- Grifols UK Ltd
- Johnson & Johnson
- Natures Aid
- Sitryx Therapeutics Ltd
- SPD Development Co.
- Terumo Aortic
- University of Sheffield
Germany
- BEGO Implant Systems GmbH & Co.KG
- Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH
- Stada Arzneimittel AG
Ireland
- Enfer Labs
- Enfer Medical Ltd
- Shorla Oncology
Italy
- ICE Pharma Group
- Orthofix
- Zambon S.p.A.
United States of America
- Procter & Gamble
- United Therapeutics
- UNITED THERAPEUTICS Corp
Canada
- Groupe PARIMA
- Groupe Parima Inc
Spain
- Stada Arzneimittel AG
- TIGENIX S.A.U
Switzerland
- Bazell Pharma AG
- CROSS Research SA
Australia
- Private Individual
Denmark
- Pharmalex
France
- Stragen Services
Israel
- Padagis Israel Pharmaceuticals
Latvia
- JSC Olainfarm
Malta
- Baxter Healthcare Corp
Netherlands
- Dechra Veterinary Products
North Macedonia
- Alkaloid AD Skopje
Run Root Cause Analysis and Critical Thinking Live online for your team
1 day
Typical duration
Pricing from:
- GBP 400
- Per attendee, based on 10 attendees
- Course tailored to your requirements
- At your choice of location, or online
We can customise this course to your requirements and deliver it on an in-house basis for any number of your staff or colleagues.
Contact our team to discuss your requirements:
