What is the importance of checking expiration dates on medications?

Checking expiration dates on medications is crucial primarily to ensure medication effectiveness and safety. Medications that are past their expiration date may lose potency, meaning that they may not work as intended. This can lead to inadequate treatment, potential health risks, and could compromise patient safety. Additionally, some medications may degrade and produce harmful byproducts after their expiration date, which further underscores the importance of adhering to these timelines for use.

The other options focus on aspects that, while relevant to the overall management of medications, do not address the critical health-related implications of using expired medications. For example, determining the manufacturing date, tracking inventory levels, and assessing a medication's price do not impact the efficacy and safety of a medication in the same way that adhering to expiration dates does. Therefore, ensuring that medications are within their effective date range is vital to providing safe and effective care.