Systematic method for developing tailored strategies for implementing point-of-care procalcitonin testing to guide antibiotic prescribing in Swiss primary care: a protocol for a mixed-methods participatory approach.

Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance is a major global health threat, driven largely by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. Point-of-care (POC) tests for inflammatory biomarkers like procalcitonin (PCT) have shown promise in reducing unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions. The hybrid type II ImpPro trial aims to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of POC-PCT on antibiotic prescriptions by primary care physicians (PCP) in French-speaking Switzerland.