We cover the meanings attributed by family members and healthcare professionals to events, relationships, practices and social phenomena relating to the field of care within the intensive care setting. The data analysis was based on phenomenological sociology, with priority for meanings relating to autonomy. Twenty-five interviews were conducted: six with members of families that had children hospitalized in this service; and 19 with healthcare professionals working in the unit. Observations on the participants were made inside the pediatric intensive care unit. We concluded that pediatric intensive care requires understanding of autonomy as recognition of the trio of self-realization, self-esteem and self-respect. This trio is a constituent of the subject's condition and should drive the relationships between professionals, children in critical states of health and adults responsible for these children. In intensive care environments, technology alone is incapable of responding to the multiple variables that arise from such situations.
Pediatric intensive care; Autonomy; Tertiary care