Medication orders in ALIS include two optional date fields, available on new and existing orders, that tell when a specific medication container should no longer be used. You can enter them when you process a pharmacy order, add an order manually, or edit an order.
What's the difference between these two dates?
- Use By Date: The earlier date your pharmacy assigns after it changes the product, such as repackaging pills into a blister card. Pharmacies may call this the "beyond-use date." When an order has a Use By Date, it takes priority over the Product Expiration Date.
- Product Expiration Date: The manufacturer's expiration date on the factory-sealed, unopened product.
In Pass Meds, each date turns yellow shortly before it expires and red once it has passed, so staff can pull or reorder the container before it's used.
How to add or edit the dates
Both dates are in the Order Details section of an order.
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Open the order from one of these pages:
New pharmacy order: On the Incoming Orders tab of the Pharmacies page, click Process on the order.
New manual order: On the resident's Manage Orders page, click +Add Routine or +Add PRN.
Existing order: On the resident's Manage Orders page, click Edit on the order.
In the Order Details section, the Use By Date from the medication packaging (if the pharmacy assigned one), and enter the Product Expiration Date.
Save the order by clicking Process Order, Create Order, or Update Order, depending on the page.
These dates describe one physical container. When you clone an order, replicate it across residents, or link it to a different drug database product, ALIS purposely leaves both dates empty. Enter the correct dates for the new order's container.
Where the dates display after saving
Once the dates are saved to an order, both display alongside the order information on the resident's Manage Orders page and in Pass Meds.
Why would a Use By Date be earlier?
The manufacturer's date only holds while the product is sealed. Once a pharmacy prepares a medication for a specific resident, that date often stops being accurate. For example, a blister card can show a manufacturer date next year while the pharmacy's Use By Date is only weeks away.
A pharmacy typically assigns a Use By Date when it:
- Repackages pills from a bulk bottle into resident packaging (blister, bubble, or bingo cards), which exposes them to more air and light.
- Reconstitutes a medication by adding liquid to a powder, such as some antibiotic suspensions, which stay good for only days to weeks once mixed.
- Compounds a custom medication that isn't sold off the shelf, such as a special strength, a tablet made into a liquid, or a cream.
Reporting
The Excel export of the Medication List Report includes Use By Date and Product Expiration Date (columns AK and AL).