Often, after a long time in a specialist area, you think you know something really well, but it is only when you have to look at the topic from the perspective of organising a Workshop, that your understanding may prove not to be correct. This is what I found at the recent CAPA workshop!
I did not fully understand the very clear distinction between corrective action, which is reactive and prevents reccurrence of a non-conformity, and preventive action, which is a proactive, continuous process of putting in place actions to prevent occurrence of an anticipated non-conformity.
These two aspects of quality improvement are completely separate, yet are frequently grouped together as a single concept. ISO 15189 does make this distinction clear.
JGM