Objective: Identify nurse's learning needs to be related to the reception with risk classification of spontaneous demand in Primary Health Care.
Method: Quality study including 15 nurses from Primary Health Care through participatory observation, application of semi-structured instrument, focus group, and of thematic content analysis.
Results: 80% of nurses never used the risk classification protocol in Primary Health Care. Knowledge gaps involving clinical aspects of care; protocol management, and the nurse's role; and the historic, structural and cultural contradictions of the care model were confirmed.
Final considerations: The recognition of learning needs for nurses that work in Primary Health Care implies in the construction or improvement of knowledge in order to develop, along with the health team, a risk classification of spontaneous demand, which requires a change in the education and continuity of their qualification for work and at work.