Drug safety in the perinatal period and role of nurses

The perinatal period is a period in which medication errors are common, and most of the errors are adverse events arising from high-risk drug use. Medication errors in the perinatal period pose serious risks in terms of maternal, fetal and neonatal. Therefore, drug safety has a special importance in this period. Nurses who play an active role in health care receive training on high-risk drugs such as anticoagulants, oxytocin, misoprostol and magnesium sulfate, which are frequently used in the perinatal period, act in accordance with standard protocols, adopt a zero tolerance approach, report medication errors and benefit from the opportunities of developing technology are important steps in ensuring drug safety. In this review, it is aimed to draw attention to the issue of drug safety in the perinatal period and to discuss the issue in line with the current literature.