SUMMARY
Objective: To evaluate the adhesion rate to the hand hygiene practice and the application of the technique among the professionals at a Health Center. Method: This is an exploratory study of a quantitative character made from a questionnaire that evaluates technique, time, solutions used, and professionals’ adhesion to the hand hygiene practice. Results: 44 health professionals were evaluated in 90 hand hygiene opportunities, with P=0.026, showing low adherence of professionals. The nurses were the professionals who most adhered to the practice without considering the correct technique (64%). The average time for hand hygiene was 20-30 seconds, and in 13 times the hands were sanitized using only water. Conclusion: Professionals did not adhere to hand hygiene in a satisfactory way, thus, health education, based on the results found and considering the difficulties of the place, can become a solution strategy.