Good practices of labor and birth care from the perspective of health professionals

Objective: Determine the understanding of health professionals of an obstetric hospital regarding the good practices of labor and birth care recommended by the World Health Organization. Method: Research-initiative, with data collection between April and July 2016 using the focal group technique, with 27 health professionals of an obstetric hospital of Rio Grande do Sul with 21 hospitalization beds. Results: Three thematic categories were achieved: good obstetric practices and their meanings; from the biological character to singular and multidimensional care; from the punctual and fragmented conception to the labor and birth care network. Conclusion: Good practices, in addition to enabling rethinking the obstetric model and contributing to organize the maternal and child health care network in order to ensure access, humane care, and problem-solving capacity, also foster female protagonism.