Background and Objective:
Covid-19 was characterized as a pandemic by the world health organization in march 2020 and since then it has directly impacted the work practices of health professionals. The present study aimed to investigate aspects related to the impact of the pandemic on the employment relationship and professional practices of physicians in brazil.

Methods:
We carried out a descriptive exploratory cross-sectional study through an online survey with 2.541 physicians in brazil between october 2020 and january 2021. Respondents were classified according to their primary specialties.

Results:
For clinical, surgical, and diagnostic/therapeutic specialists, the biggest changes of the pandemic were the suspension of elective procedures and the decrease in office activity. About 20% of primary care and diagnostic/therapeutic physicians stated they had started to perform activities that were usually performed by other specialties. 35% of surgical specialists began to perform fewer types of procedures. For 63% of primary care physicians, there was no impact on their income during the pandemic. As for the surgical specialties, there was a reduction in income for almost 80% of the respondents. More than half of the physicians started to value more stability in work and social security rights. 20% of primary care physicians expanded their employment relationships, while 21% of the surgical specialties had their contracts reduced. Clinical and surgical specialists were the ones that most felt the impact of the pandemic on their services: around 20% of the physicians in both categories reduced their services.

Conclusions:
The impact of covid-19 was felt differently across all specialty groups. The social isolation recommendations, the suspension of elective procedures, and the reduction of movement in the offices were the impacts most felt by the respondents, especially among clinical, surgical, and diagnostic/therapeutic specialists.