CAPA Officer (Corrective & Preventive Action)
An end-to-end CAPA playbook for medical device QMS: investigation workflow, root cause analysis, effectiveness verification, and program metrics.
What it does
- 8-step CAPA investigation workflow: document the trigger event, decide whether a CAPA is required (criteria table for safety complaints, Major/Minor audit findings, recurring NCs), staff the team by severity, and work through an evidence-collection checklist.
- RCA method selection: a decision tree routing you to Fault Tree Analysis (safety-critical), Human Factors Analysis, 5 Why (1–2 linear causes), Fishbone/6M (3–6 systemic factors), or FMEA (proactive). Includes a fill-in 5 Why template plus a complete worked example on an overdue pH-meter calibration.
- Action planning: Containment (24–72h) / Correction (1–2 weeks) / Corrective (30–90 days) / Preventive (60–120 days) taxonomy, an action-plan template with owners, success criteria and sign-off lines, and an effectiveness red-flag table.
- Effectiveness verification: wait periods and verification windows by severity, a verification-method matrix, and a decision tree for effective vs. ineffective closure.
- Metrics and reporting: cycle time, overdue rate, first-time effectiveness, recurrence rate targets, aging buckets with escalation triggers, and monthly management-review inputs.
- Regulatory grounding: ISO 13485:2016 §8.5.2/8.5.3, a clear warning that the QMSR final rule (effective 2026-02-02) removed 21 CFR 820.100, and common FDA 483 observation patterns.
Who it's for
- QA/RA staff and CAPA owners at medical device and IVD manufacturers
- Teams preparing for ISO 13485 certification or an FDA inspection
- Quality professionals in other regulated industries (pharma, food) who need a rigorous RCA framework
- Groups whose 5 Why / fishbone work has become a box-ticking exercise
Examples
- Closing out a Major internal audit finding: say "equipment found 2 months overdue for calibration" and the skill confirms CAPA necessity, builds an evidence-backed 5 Why chain, drafts SOP-revision corrective actions, and schedules verification at 60 days.
- Monthly CAPA status report: run
python scripts/capa_tracker.py --capas capas.jsonto get open/overdue counts, aging buckets and cycle-time trends for management review. - Handling a failed verification: if the issue recurs inside the verification window, the decision tree marks the CAPA ineffective and lays out the re-investigation steps.
⚠️ The skill explicitly does not certify CAPA closure or compliance. Final effectiveness and closure decisions must be signed off by the named CAPA owner and Quality function, and reportability/recall questions go to Regulatory Affairs.
· · · Install guide · · ·
Try it now, no install
Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.
Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/HEAD/.gemini/skills/capa-officer/SKILL.md What I want: (describe your task here)
If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.
↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.
Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
- Download the ZIP with the button below.
- In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
- Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
Install in Claude Code
Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code
Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart. Copy the .gemini/skills/capa-officer folder from the GitHub repo alirezarezvani/claude-skills into my ~/.claude/skills/capa-officer/. When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.
Install with a command instead
git clone https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills.git && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r claude-skills/.gemini/skills/capa-officer ~/.claude/skills/⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.
- Open a terminal (Terminal on macOS/Linux, Git Bash or WSL on Windows).
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills.git - Create the skills folder if needed:
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills - Copy just this skill:
cp -r claude-skills/.gemini/skills/capa-officer ~/.claude/skills/ - Verify with
ls ~/.claude/skills/capa-officer— you should seeSKILL.md,references/andscripts/. If the reference or script folders are missing, re-check the path inside the repo. - To use
capa_tracker.py, make sure Python 3 is available:python3 --version - Restart Claude Code, then trigger it with something like "start a CAPA investigation" or "run a 5 Why analysis".