Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Brazilian physician regarding Covid-19 pandemic: a quick online cross-sectional survey

To identify the knowledge, attitudes and practices of physician regarding COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study, using a public opinion survey, carried out with physician of different specialties in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The sample consisted of 220 professionals, the data collection was made using electronic forms created on Google forms®, distributed through social media (Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram). Bivariate analysis was performed using the TStudent, Chi-square and ANOVA tests. 45.9% of respondents had up to 5 years of graduation; professionals reported feeling afraid for their own health and for the health of their families; 60.9% reported being in an institution that has a task force to fight infectious diseases; 44.1% say they have the ability to perform orotracheal intubation; 67.3% reported not being able to decide which patient should or should not receive advanced treatment; the average score of knowledge, attitudes and practices among physicians was 7.67 ± 1.38 points, the averages were similar between groups when assessing the gender, age and time since graduation of the respondent physicians, with averages greater than 7.00. It was possible to identify a good level of knowledge among physicians. These results point to the need to monitor and update information about the disease, mainly to provide adequate information for these professionals.