The concept of humanization is broad and it encompasses a set of knowledge, practices, attitudes, and relations. It involves the effective participation of professionals, managers, users, and social movements so that shared experiences can provide an improved quality of healthcare. This study aimed to analyze the perception of physicians and nurses from outpatient medical care units (AMA) facilities regarding humanization in health services. This is a qualitative research, with a cross-sectional design, carried out by means of semi-structured interviews, from October 2010 to May 2011, and the sample representativeness criterion to stop collecting data was discourse saturation. It was found out that the professionals’ perception regarding humanization has various senses and meanings, allowing the construction of empirical categories: concern for the other – otherness, users’ rights, users’ information and autonomy, and risk assessment. Usual and particular situations experienced on a daily basis in outpatient medical care units facilities, such as direct contact to health issues that involve greater risks to users, seem to influence the professionals’ perception regarding humanization, and they can affect the preservation of rights and relations established between professionals and users.
Institutional Ethics; Autonomy; Health Humanization