Humanized practices of nurse midwives in hospital delivery care

Abstract

The theme and purpose of the present study is the practice used and developed by nurse midwives as of the implementation of the humanized delivery model. It is a qualitative study that was made at two municipal maternity hospitals located in Rio de Janeiro, in the period from February to April of 2008. Subjects were 10 nurse midwives. Semi-structured interviews were performed for data collection. Based on the subjects' statements it was possible to identify registry units and name the themes. The themes were grouped according to meaning similarities and thus the categories were obtained. The results showed that the practices used by nurses providing hospital delivery care in the humanization context refer to the shower bath, the orientation for calm breathing, the appreciation of the independence of movements, the establishment of the nurse-parturient attachment, the presence of the companion and the use of physical touch. It is concluded that despite the adverse conditions, nurses have been following the principles and guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization and the Brazilian Ministry of Health in their hospital delivery care practice.