The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the district medical officer's role - a qualitative study.

Background: We wished to examine the role of the district medical officer in five Norwegian municipalities to provide new knowledge of how the experience from the pandemic might have led to changes to the district medical officer's role.

Material And Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 persons who had held key positions in local crisis management teams during and after the pandemic. The informants were recruited from five municipalities within the same county, and they all held leadership roles in health care (district medical officers), local politics or administration.

The district medical officer's role during the pandemic - a qualitative study.

Background: We studied the district medical officers' role during the pandemic with a view to enhancing our knowledge of their role in municipal crisis management.

Material And Method: Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with key participants in crisis management in five local authorities, in the fields of medicine, policy and administration. The data were subjected to empirical qualitative analysis inspired by stepwise deductive-bottom-up methodology.