Tobacco consumption continues to be a critical global public health issue. Due to their widespread accessibility, community pharmacists are well-positioned to provide tobacco cessation support. To equip pharmacists in Qatar with the necessary knowledge and practical skills for delivering smoking cessation interventions, a comprehensive tobacco control education program was developed and implemented. This study aimed to evaluate how this program influenced pharmacists’ competencies and practical abilities. A random selection of community pharmacists in Qatar was invited to participate. Those who agreed were randomly allocated to either an intervention or a control group. The intervention group received a detailed training program on managing tobacco-use disorder, while the control group attended a brief lecture on a topic unrelated to tobacco. The effectiveness of the program was measured using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to assess tobacco cessation skills and competencies. Fifty-four pharmacists in the intervention group and thirty-two in the control group completed the OSCE. Across all cases, the intervention group achieved substantially higher scores than the control group. The mean total scores for the six OSCE cases were 15.2, 15.3, 14.2, 14.6, 16.3, and 15.2 for the intervention group, versus 8.8, 6.2, 7.7, 9.2, 8.3, and 11.3 for the control group (p < 0.001).The findings indicate that a targeted, intensive tobacco cessation education program can significantly enhance community pharmacists’ counseling skills and overall competence in supporting patients to quit smoking.
