[Histonet] received dates no longer required

[Cheryl]

Hi guys-

I'm probably coming in a little late to this conversation.  Received dates are no longer required by any of the governing bodies. Haven't been for a while.  Opened dates aren't required either, as long as the reagent's performance isn't altered by the mechanical act of opening the container (this does apply to some clinical reagent's and almost no histology supplies when stored correctly)

The only required date is expiry.  If on the rare instance the manufacturer doesn't supply one, your institution would need to decide what works (1 year up to as many as 5 years) and include this statement in a policy. Then and only then would you need to mark the incoming supply with the received and internally determined expiration date. 

To complete the variables that may come up- we can no longer extend and expiration by freezing. This used to be a common practice for concentrated antibodies to extend expiration, but no more. 

Take a minute and look it up for CAP, JCACO and all the others-- it'll save you SO much time -- don't forget to update your policies so you're not breaking your own internal guidelines. 

The only reason I can think of to date everything is if folks don't reliably rotate stock-- and even if they are-- if your supplier isn't doing it well, your applied dates might not line up with first expired-- 

Thoughts?

Cheryl