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.

Results: The study showed that as premise-setters and coordinators, the district medical officers were key actors in crisis management: The district medical officers' medical knowledge was sought and valued by the local authority management in a pandemic situation fraught with uncertainty. The district medical officers actively used different networks to coordinate the work, and interacted with various actors in the municipality, in industry and nationally, with regard to both infection control and infection management efforts.

Interpretation: District medical officers' expertise in community medicine assumed greater significance during the pandemic and gave them access to central decision-making arenas and networks.