[Social representations of hospital infections elaborated by health professionals]

This study has the aim to analyze the Social Representation of the Hospital Infections elaborated by health professionals and health students of a public hospital of Teresina-PI. The study has a quantitative and descriptive approach. The data was produced based on the free association of words test and processed by the Tri-Deux Mots software gave origin to 563 words as response to the following stimulus: Hospital infection, invasive procedures, sterilization of materials and standard. The positions of the subjects regarding hospital infection was demonstrated with words such as: paramentation, probing and hands. The results reinforce the emphasis given by the health professionals to the paramentation for his own and the patient protection during invasive procedures, pointing out the importance to the hands hygiene.