The article discusses humanization in the context of Obstetric training, instigated by contributions from ethnography on the process of learning medicine in this field. Research techniques utilized include participant observation, primary source analysis, and in-depth interviews. Ethnographic material was produced while accompanying a course offered by the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of a renown São Paulo medical school and visits by students to public services offering "humanized care" in birth, as part of its curricular activities. Repercussions of these visits in class are also presented. Conflicting views on the notion of humanization contrast the models of care presented by the hospitals visited and by the Medical School Hospital, as well as ideal models of obstetric care upheld by its professors. The ensuing discussion also highlights the ideal of the medical profession and its field of competence. Thus, the visit and its repercussions were also an opportunity for further consolidating a collective identity: that of physician in training. The difficulty in dealing with pluralisms as to conducts, proposed by different schools of thought within Medicine is brought to attention. As a consequence, difficulties arise in developing a critical outlook and in gaining self-confidence in decision-making.
Humanization of birth; Obstetric training