Abstract
Objective: To identify the microorganisms present in the hands of the health professionals of an intensive care unit and to verify the causes of low adherence to hand hygiene. Method: Qualitative, exploratory, cross-sectional study. The collection of qualitative data was through a semi-structured interview and the quantitative data were collected through the culture analysis collected from the hands of the health professionals of the intensive care unit. Nurses, nursing technicians and physicians participated in the study. The analysis of the content for the qualitative and quantitative data was done by means of the observation of the growth of microorganisms in the culture plates and later identification of these, being made available in Microsoft Office Word 2007, for statistical analysis. Results: The study showed a percentage of contamination of 33.3% in the professional category of nurse, 46.7% in nursing technicians and 100% in the medical professional. However, the majority of the participants affirm that the work environment provides adherence to hand hygiene, paradoxically it is observed that 50% of the total sample obtained contamination. The justification for non-adherence to handwashing was to work overload. Conclusion: A high contamination index was observed, as well as a professional resistance profile for non-adherence to hand hygiene.