[Participatory development of practice guidelines for consistency in pandemic management approaches across local health authorities in Germany: results of a workshop based on semi-structured interviews].

The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with major challenges for the public health service in Germany including the need to adapt structures and management processes in local health authorities under time pressure. Comprehensively analyzing challenges based on the perspectives of public health service staff and developing practice guidelines could contribute to the long-term strengthening of the public health service in Germany. The present project utilized qualitative methods to capture experiences in pandemic management and, collaboratively with public health service staff, developed practice guidelines for establishing consistency in pandemic management approaches across local health authorities.Twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with local health authority staff from Baden-Württemberg (BW), a federal state of Germany, on perceived barriers of and enabling factors for successful pandemic management (09/21-02/22). Interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Fields of action emerging from the interviews were prioritized in bilateral discussions with eight representatives from local health authorities (05/22-06/22). For the prioritized field of action, a workshop was held with 16 participants from 11 local health authorities and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Integration BW (SM BW) to develop practice guidelines (06/22).Qualitative content analyses revealed 22 fields of action to strengthen pandemic management.