Nurses practices in childbirth care in Brazil: literature review

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe and discuss the scientific production about the practice of nurses in childbirth care. METHOD: An integrative literature review was performed using available publications. The search for the articles took place in the databases LILACS, BDENF, Portal of CAPES journals, SCIELO Online Scientific Electronic Library from 2014 to 2019, with 14 studies being selected and analyzed. The research used the descriptors "women's health", "humanized childbirth", "normal birth", "obstetric nurses", "humanization of assistance" with the Boolean operator AND at the end of each descriptor. The inclusion criteria used were original and review articles, published in full, in Portuguese in national journals. RESULTS: Two categories of analysis emerged: Nurses' practices regarding good practices in childbirth and birth care and factors that interfere in the labor of parturients. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: There was an adherence to good practices in childbirth and birth care, such as the use of non-pharmacological methods in pain management, the presence of a companion, among others. However, it was also observed that women are placed in a passive place and are exposed due to an inadequate structure and the lack of material resources.