Second ASAP Symposium 2025
09.03.2026 - The second symposium of the Antimicrobial Stewardship in Ambulatory Care Platform (ASAP) took place on 12 November 2025 in Bern, bringing together 27 clinicians, researchers, nurses, pharmacists and public health representatives from across Switzerland. The meeting aimed to strengthen national collaboration around responsible antimicrobial use, share emerging evidence, and support practical stewardship across outpatient and long-term care settings. This year’s programme combined updates on ambulatory prescribing guidelines with a focused exploration of antimicrobial use in llong-term care facilities (LTCFs), an area of rising clinical, organizational and public health relevance.
Participants reaffirmed the growing need for consistent, evidence-based and context-adopted antimicrobial stewardship, particularly as diagnostic tools evolve, and prescribing pressures differ across regions and care settings. Satisfaction with the event was exceptionally high: all surveyed participants reported being satisfied or very satisfied, and every respondent indicated having acquired new knowledge with immediate relevance to clinical practice.
The 2025 symposium confirmed the importance of coordinated antimicrobial stewardship in ambulatory and long-term care. ASAP will continue supporting clinicians by facilitating knowledge exchande, strengthening networks and promoting practical, feasible and patient-centred prescribing strategies ahead of the 2026 edition.
Symposium materials, including this report, is available on the ASAP website: Antimicrobial Stewardship in Ambulatory care Platform – Kollegium für Hausarztmedizin
The next symposium will take place in November 2026.
Further information
Symposium Antimicrobial Stewardship in Ambulatory Care Platform (ASAP)
WAAW 2024 - The first ASAP symposium, which was held during World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week, focused on promoting the appropriate use of antibiotics for outpatient treatment in Switzerland. Experts discussed the importance of quality indicators, antibiotic management strategies and regional variations in prescription practices. The role of the Sentinella system in monitoring resistance to antibiotics, the impact of directives on prescribing behaviour and cantonal action plans ongoing in Geneva and Valais to raise awareness among the public and professional community were the main topics of the event. The emphasis was on the need for better collaboration, user-friendly resources and more qualitative data to combat antimicrobial resistance.
ASAP: promoting good antibiotic prescription practice in ambulatory care
10.07.2024 - Switzerland’s Antimicrobial Stewardship in Ambulatory Care Platform (ASAP) is intended to promote good practices in the prescription of antibiotics in the country’s ambulatory care sector and, in the longer term, to help reduce antibiotic resistance nationwide. The platform has been established under the broader Swiss Strategy on Antibiotic Resistance (StAR) and developed in collaboration with the College of Primary Care Medicine (CPCM).