ABSTRACT
Objective: To analyze the challenges for exercising health advocacy to hospitalized children during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This is an online descriptive-exploratory qualitative study. Participants were 28 nursing professionals enrolled in the subject Nursing in Health Care for Children and Adolescents in a graduate program at a federal university in northeastern Brazil. Data collection took place in June 2021 through a conversation wheel and press conference. As instruments, we used Google forms and a semi-structured script. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. As an analysis method, Discursive Textual Analysis (DTA) was used. For data organization, Atlas.ti 8.4.15 software (Qualitative Research and Solutions) was used.Results: Two categories emerged: 1) Impacts of the pandemic on pediatric care and advocacy: child isolation and a health care scenario where children were placed in the background were observed. 2) Existing barriers that worsened with the health crisis: work overload, precarious structure and difficulty in working conditions were identified, which led to violations of children's rights and aggravated the overview of difficulties in the provision of pediatric services.Conclusion: The challenges for exercising health advocacy for hospitalized children during the pandemic, evidenced by the impacts and barriers to care, have expanded health teams' work, making the exercise of advocacy in pediatric care even more difficult. It is necessary to rethink and adjust access and care policies after the pandemic to ensure that child care is not restricted.