Introduction In order to obtain an unified care for the health service user, it is necessary that the caring net can have the distance between the theory and the practice reduced. The working process between the teams should be in harmony to the interdisciplinary mode, so that an individualised assistance plan among the several parts can be agreed. Ecomap is an alternative for the identification of the points in the net that are, directly or indirectly, in contact with the user to be analysed. The present study aims at reflecting on the application of the illustrated instrument Ecomap from a complex case lived by the authors in order to discuss the interdisciplinary working process. Case report involving complex situations like the HIV diagnosis in pregnant homeless women that need intersection and interdisciplinary actions to avoid the vertical HIV contamination.

Methods This study aims to describe the experience of using this instrument in collecting data for a research that involved 12 points of society with a gap HIV pregnant homeless, which used symbolic interactionism and grounded theory as a theoretical-methodological reference framework for understanding these linked points. Ecomap presents the lived relations graphically in the moment that the individual, who should be the main map focus, is being studied.

Results The case was awarded by the vertical transmission committee of Porto Alegre for organising the network in an interdisciplinary way, guaranteeing the welfare of the pregnant and her child. The discussion of possible changes in network, the identification of each point members common and singular characteristics.

Conclusion in the context of the organisation of the primary health care, it is important to count on a graphic tool that shows the patient‘s information in a practical and summarised way, using the no verbal language and also answering to all net points. Because the interpersonal relationships are unstable, the presented data are in continuous changing, and that is why, Ecomap is considered as a photograph of the studied moment.