The evaluation of health care services, as perceived by the users, is considered to be an important instrument of the management process. The objective of this study is to understand the user's perception of a university hospital, during their children's birth and hospital admission in the intensive care unit. This is an ethnographical study. The data was collected through a semi-structured interview. The results were presented as a narrative and twelve categories and the following cultural themes emerged: classifying the experiences, glimpsing the birth process, the capacity to become parents, and care and living with a child. Findings permitted an understanding of the user's view as relates to the hospital environment, showing positive and negative aspects of this institution. The results were analyzed through the Biographical Interpretative Method. They also showed the need to restructure managerial activities and care according to the evaluation of the structure, process, and result.
Consumer satisfaction; Quality; Perinatal care; Cultural anthropology