Prevention and control of infection in professional nursing training: a descriptive study

Aim: to offer subsidies to broaden the discussion regarding the teaching of practices in the prevention and control of infection in the training of nurses. Material and Methods: an exploratory, descriptive, qualitative approach, based on the Collective Subject Discourse method. The participants were 42 nursing students from a Brazilian higher education institution. Data were processed and analyzed by the Descending Hierarchical Classification. Results: four classes of nursing care were obtained in the prevention and control of infection, the conceptual bases, responsibilities and the acquisition of knowledge for safe care. Conclusion: the training of human resources in nursing with the emphasis on infection prevention and control is challenging, especially due to the constant evolution of the theme. In this dynamic scenario, nursing education requires, among other aspects, to overcome conceptual weaknesses and misconceptions for the development of safe and harmless health care. Descriptors: Prevention & Control; Infection; Education, Higher; Nursing.