The study aimed to outline the profile of children and adolescents who seek care at the Child Care Center Dr. Lucia de Fatima Rodrigues Guimarães Sá (Centro de Assistência à Criança - CAC), in Fortaleza / Ceará, describe the links with primary care services and the justifications of mothers looking for emergency service. Descriptive transversal study, conducted from 1 to 31 May 2011, whose sample consisted of 211 participants. A portion of 47.4% of visits were classified as pathologies that could be conducted in primary care. The search of mothers for pediatric emergency was justified by the quality of care, the accessibility and, in some instances, the lack of doctors in the Basic Health Units.
Overcrowding of pediatric emergencies; primary care; prioritization in health