Abstract
Introduction:
Since their insertion in the delivery rooms of public hospitals, nurse midwives have striven for humanized care in childbirth.
Objectives:
To identify the practices employed by nurse midwives in childbirth care in public hospitals and their contribution to the consolidation of humanization of childbirth.
Methods:
A descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional, study, held in maternity hospitals of the public health system in Rio de Janeiro, evaluating records of 4,787 childbirths, of which 2,914 (59.73%) were attended by nurse midwives.
Results:
In Maternity Hospital A, 68.50% of childbirths were attended by nurse midwives, while in Maternity Hospital B, the figure was 43.07%. The adoption of upright positions was predominant (78.95%). Encouraging walking occurred in 37.29% of deliveries. Episiotomy occurred only in 4.0% of childbirths.
Conclusions:
The most frequent practices were those that do not negatively influence the physiology, contributing to the humanization. The occurrence of interventionist practices represents an ongoing process of change.
Keywords:
Obstetric nursing; Humanizing Delivery; Women's Health; Medicalization