This qualitative study aims to characterize nurses' actions in care for children during emergency situations, at a pediatric unit from a hospital in the interior of São Paulo State, Brazil, by means of semi structured interviews with eight nurses. The interview included questions about professional profile and, next, the research question. The analysis was guided by Bardin's content analysis (1997), which resulted in the theme: the nurses as a mediator in child care in the emergency room, based on four subthemes: child care planning, child's admission and evaluation, acting in child and family care and care training. Nursing actions in emergency situations with children and their families demand knowledge, technical and technological training, ability and agility, decision-making and teamwork, transmitting security, tranquility, empathy and rationality.
pediatric nursing; emergency medical services; family