Lessons · Pharmacy · expiry and beyond-use dates
Expiry dates and beyond-use dates
A manufacturer's expiry written as a month and a year runs to the LAST day of that month, and a beyond-use date is counted in days from the day the product was made or opened.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Shelf checks and compounding logs both live on these dates. Pulling stock a month early costs money; leaving it a month late is a product that should not be dispensed sitting where somebody will reach for it.
How to think about it
For a printed expiry, read the month and take the last day of it. For a beyond-use date, count the days forward through the calendar, remembering how many days each month has. When two dates apply, the earlier one wins.
Worked example
EXP 09/2027 is good through 30 September 2027A month and a year means the last day of that month.
Opened 12 March with a 90 day date: 19 days left in March, 30 in April, 31 in May is 80 days, so 10 JuneCount month by month rather than guessing.
A 14 day date started on 1 April runs to 15 AprilAdd the days to the date it started.
A 90 day beyond-use date on an ingredient that expires in 30 days is a 30 day dateThe shorter date always wins.
Your turn
A 28 day beyond-use date is written on 3 May. Write the day of the month it runs to.
3 + 28 = May
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Reading EXP 09/2027 as the first of September. It is good through the last day of that month, and pulling it on the first throws away a month of usable stock.