Keywords: rational prescribing, opthalmic preparations, essential medicine list, WHO drug use indicators. Background: Drug utilization studies provide a pharmacoeconomic basis for making evidence-based health-care decisions. Periodical auditing of prescribing pattern is vital for promotion of rational use of drugs. Aim: This study was designed with the aim to investigate the utilization pattern in a tertiary care hospital. Settings and design: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted

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... or a period of 2 months. Materials and methods: The prescriptions for all consecutive new patients attending the OPD were included and audited using a pre-designed form to record information from the OPD prescription cards of each patient. Statistical analysis: Data analysis was carried out using the descriptive statistics Results: A total of 600 prescriptions were analyzed with the average number of drugs per prescription being 2.6 (0.9). The most common disorders diagnosed were refractive errors (13.3%) followed by cataract, glaucoma and others. 1400 drugs were prescribed in six dosage forms with eye drops being the most common (57.14%) followed by tablets (14.28%), ointment (6.42%), syrup (3.92%) capsules (4.28%), lotion (0.57%) injections contributed 2.14% of the dosage forms prescribed. The frequency of drug administration was recorded in 96.6% and the duration of treatment was mentioned in 80% of the drugs prescribed. Antimicrobials were the most commonly prescribed (39.6%) followed by anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic (26.0%), anti-glaucoma drugs (23.0%), mydriatic and cycloplegics (12.8%), miotics (7.00%). Drugs were prescribed in brand name in 65.6% and that accounted for generic name in 34.3% (481/1400). Conclusion: The study revealed that prescription writing errors were minimum but generic prescribing was low which adds to the economic burden indirectly leading to non-compliance.