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Shelf Life

This Medical Laboratory Science lesson in Blood Bank supports laboratory science learning and laboratory interpretation for medical laboratory students and professionals.

Relate outdate/dating concepts by product type, thaw-clock logic for frozen plasma products, and the educational effect of irradiation on expiration, hedging exact day/hour counts to current standards and institutional SOP.

Intermediate24 min read15 sectionsBlood Bank
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Learning Objectives

Getting started

Section 1 of 15

Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Section: Learning Objectives

Each objective below describes a transfusion-service laboratory competency, product integrity, labeling, storage, and issue practice first; clinical treatment protocols second.

  • Relate general shelf-life concepts by component category (red cells, frozen plasma/cryoprecipitate, platelets) to storage condition and anticoagulant/additive system, deferring exact day counts to current AABB/FDA-adopted standards and manufacturer/package specifications
  • Explain 'thaw clock' concepts for frozen plasma and thawed/pooled cryoprecipitate, how thawing converts a frozen dating period into a shorter refrigerated or room-temperature window
  • Describe, at an educational level, how irradiation can shorten or reset a component's outdate, and why the laboratory must track modified expiration alongside the original collection/preparation date

Section 1 of 15