Tuesday, September 1, 2026

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

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Details

Early morning symposium supported by Kenvue Chair(s) Mr Sherif Guorgui, President of the FIP Community Pharmacy Section, Canada Introduction: A patient who smokes—whether or not they have an established condition—faces avoidable barriers to achieving optimal health outcomes. In conditions such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or chronic pain, these effects become particularly visible: treatment targets are harder to reach, and the benefits of medicines may be diminished, even when therapy is otherwise well optimised. Yet in routine practice, smoking is often managed as a separate issue, raised briefly or referred elsewhere, while other aspects of care take priority. This session repositions smoking cessation where the evidence places it: as a core, disease-modifying intervention with wide-ranging clinical impact. Across health contexts, stopping smoking can influence cardiovascular risk, slow disease progression, improve symptom control, and enhance the effectiveness of many treatments. Attendees will explore the impact of smoking cessation across different clinical situations, using chronic diseases as illustrative cases, before moving to implementation. The focus will be on how to integrate smoking into routine care conversations rather than presenting it as a standalone message. A closing panel will bring policy and FIP perspectives on emerging nicotine products and shifting regulations, with relevance for pharmacists practising in diverse settings. Programme: Learning objectives: 1. Recognise the clinical impact of smoking across health contexts: Understand how smoking affects treatment outcomes and identify why cessation should be considered a core, disease-modifying intervention. 2. Integrate smoking cessation into routine patient care: Develop skills to raise and address smoking within standard clinical conversations, including patient-centred communication strategies. 3. Apply evidence-based cessation strategies in practice: Select and optimise pharmacological and behavioural approaches (e.g. combination therapy) and adapt interventions to different patient readiness levels and regulatory environments. Take home messages: Optimising medications while overlooking smoking leaves care incomplete. Its effects are especially visible in conditions such as cardiometabolic disease, kidney disease, and chronic pain but the impact extends across patient populations. With combination pharmacotherapy, flexible dosing, quit strategies, pharmacists can integrate cessation as a routine, effective component of every care plan.