The nurse is preparing a medication for a client and observes the date of expiration on the vial occurred 2 months ago. Which of the following actions should the nurse take?

A. Notifying the provider is not necessary in this situation, as handling expired medications falls under the nurse’s and pharmacy’s scope of practice. B. Returning the medication to the pharmacy is the appropriate action. The pharmacy is responsible for proper disposal and inventory control of expired medications. C. While discarding may seem reasonable, medications should not be discarded by the nurse unless facility policy specifically allows it and outlines the procedure. D. Administering an expired medication is unsafe and can be harmful to the client.