Designing a Fourth Year Baccalaureate Nursing Course Utilizing the Lens of The Theory of Bureaucratic Caring and a Root Cause Analysis Approach

The purpose of baccalaureate nursing education is to foster critical thinking in the nursing student to encourage use of evidence in their practice, increasing their ability to manage complexity in a variety of settings. Nurses who incorporate critical thinking and problem-solving strategies into their practice ensure an evidence-informed approach and become active participants and architects of their own destiny. A root cause analysis approach utilizing The Theory of Bureaucratic Caring as a lens might facilitate critical thinking and problem solving, and enhance the understanding of the dichotomy of a caring bureaucracy; facilitate decision-making; and humanize nursing care (Ray, 1989; Ray & Turkel, 2012, 2010) for the nursing student.