OBJECTIVE： To evaluate the application effects of PDCA cycle management in the outpatient prescription intervention. METHODS： A total of outpatient prescriptions （pre-intervention group） during Jan.-Dec. 2014 and 918 659 （intervention group） were selected during Jan.-Dec. 2015 were selected from a hospital. Irrational outpatient prescriptions were analyzed before and after the application of PDCA cycle management， and the improvement of main indexes were compared such as unsuitable usage and dosage， incomplete clinical diagnosis writing， no physicians’ signature on the prescription or inconsistent with sample. RESULTS： Before intervention， there were 2 347 irrational prescriptions， including 1 401 nonstandard prescriptions， 849 unsuitable prescriptions and 97 abnormal prescriptions. After intervention， there were 1 161 irrational prescriptions， including 695 nonstandard prescriptions， 425 unsuitable prescription and 41 abnormal prescriptions， decreasing 50.53％， 50.39％ 49.94％ and 57.73％， respectively. The proportion of unsuitable usage and dosage， incomplete clinical diagnosis writing， no physicians’ signature on the prescription or inconsistent with sample， nonstandard prescription paper， unsuitable indications， no signature and date for prescription revision or no reason and new signature for overdose use， outpatient prescriptions more than 7 d common dose or emergency prescriptions more than 3 d common dose without special situation in total amount of outpatient prescriptions decreased from 0.72‰， 0.57‰， 0.45‰， 0.27‰， 0.20‰， 0.19‰ and 0.15‰ before intervention to 0.32‰， 0.25‰， 0.19‰， 0.11‰， 0.09‰， 0.08‰ and 0.07‰ after intervention. CONCLUSIONS： PDCA cycle management significantly improves the quality of outpatient prescriptions. There still are irrational outpatient prescriptions in this hospital， and it is to be intervened continuously.