As an obstetric nurse working in a Delivery Center and considering the studies and reflections on the new model of assistance to labor and birth (humanized assistance), I started to think about this concept, given the various connotations attributed to the term. This article was written with the aim of divulging our proposal of replacement of the expression "humanized assistance to child-birth" for "obstetric assistance fo-cused on the parturient's needs", and to describe the assistance given at the Delivery Center of the General Hospital of Itapecerica da Serra, in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, where a protocol of obstetric behavior and rules recommended by the Ministry of Health is followed.
Humanizing delivery; Obstetrical nursing; Patient-centered care