Objective:

To describe nursing care in the management of vasoactive drugs.

Method:

Qualitative, explanatory study of bibliographic review through articles retrieved from Google Scholar, PubMed, Scielo, Dialnet, Lilacs and indexed journals such as Medical Portals.

Results:

Vasoactive drugs are high-risk medications used in intensive care units to stabilize organic dysfunction. 43% of patients experience incidents related to these drugs, being 34% related to formulation and 28% to administration. Main care includes safe preparation, preferably central venous administration, continuous hemodynamic monitoring and adverse effects surveillance.

Conclusions:

Understanding the mechanism of action, adverse effects and dilution compatibility is fundamental for safe administration and timely intervention in complications.