en ● International Health مقاله اصيل پژوهشي Orginal Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span style="line-height:2;"><strong>Background</strong>: Irrational prescribing has been a major public health concern worldwide, including in Bangladesh. Lack of effective treatment guidelines and drug regulation policies to manage COVID-19 allowed an upsurge in this malpractice during the pandemic. This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the prescription pattern in non-COVID ambulatory patients during the COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh.<br> <strong>Methods</strong>: A total of 600 prescriptions were randomly collected from non-COVID outpatients at three tertiary hospitals in Dhaka, Bangladesh, between December 2020 and June 2021. COVID-19 status was confirmed through verbal screening and antigen test verification when applicable. Data were organized and analyzed using Google spreadsheet, MS Excel, and SPSS software (version 26.0).<br> <strong>Results</strong>: Mean&plusmn;SD number of drugs prescribed per prescription was 5.25&plusmn;2.1 and dependent on patients&rsquo; age groups (P<0.001) and gender (P=0.013). Drugs were prescribed by brand names, mostly 3107(98.69%), and 2452(77.9%) of them belonged to the essential drugs list. Most prescribed drugs were from gastroenterology 2025(64.33%) and respiratory group 1716 (54.50%). A mean of 7.38 errors were found per prescription of which the predominant type was error of omission. Each prescription carried 1.157 errors of omission related to the prescriber&rsquo;s details, 349(50.29%), and diagnosis, 144(20.75%). A total of 427(13.56%) of all the prescribed drugs were at risk of drug-drug interaction.<br> <strong>Conclusion</strong>: To address the above-mentioned concerns, targeted interventions, such as prescriber training on rational drug use and practicing World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators, implementation and strengthening national prescription monitoring policies, and ensuring a robust supply of necessary drugs are recommended while planning for combating any future outbreak of COVID-19 or similar diseases.&nbsp;</span></span></span></div> WHO prescribing indicators, COVID-19, Tertiary level hospitals, Outpatients, Prescription errors, Bangladesh 117 128 http://jrh.gmu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-2692-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Md. Bappy Hawlader hmbappy3du@gmail.com 100319475328460045183 0009-0001-2466-478X No Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Md. Saiful Islam saiful-2014517271@dpc.du.ac.bd 100319475328460045184 100319475328460045184 No Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Kazi Milenur Rahman Prattay kmrahman359@gmail.com 100319475328460045185 100319475328460045185 No Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Md. Raihan Sarkar raihan.rezvi@du.ac.bd 100319475328460045186 100319475328460045186 No Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Sheikh Zahir Raihan sheikhzahir@du.ac.bd 100319475328460045187 100319475328460045187 No Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Md. Abdul Muhit muhit@du.ac.bd 100319475328460045188 100319475328460045188 No Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Nahid Sharmin nahidsharmin@du.ac.bd 100319475328460045189 100319475328460045189 Yes Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.