Our objective in this study was to know the practice of the nurse in the obstetrics center in the assistance to women during the delivery process. It is a descriptive field study conducted at four public maternities of São Luís Ma, Brazil, from April to July of 2002, with the consent of the subjects, respecting the ethical aspects. Twenty-one nurses at the obstetrics center participated in the study. The grouping of the conversations made by the Content Technique, made the organization of the category "the practice of the nurse in the assistance to women during the delivery process" and its sub-categories: temporal assistance of the birth trajectory and the method of care during the natural birth trajectory possible. At the end of the study, we prove that the nurse of the obstetric center acts together with the woman with direct and passive actions (observing, protecting); indirect actions (administrative) and with more effective participation making decisions and influencing the action and the behavior of this woman (offering solidary and obstetric care).
Normal childbirth; Nurse-patient relationships; Obstetric nursing