prescription and drug use patterns in non- covid ambulatory patients in bangladesh during covid-19 pandemic

Background: 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.methods: 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).results: mean±sd number of drugs prescribed per prescription was 5.25±2.1 and dependent on patients' 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'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.conclusion: 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.