LSU Health New Orleans Students Win 1st Place for Hookah Dangers Poster

June 22, 2023

Pictured left to right: LSU Health Sciences Center Respiratory Therapy Program senior students: Hailey Carter, Justice Pitts, Amanda Nguyen, and Alexis Werner, who were recognized for best oral poster presentation during the LSRC 51st Annual Educational Meeting and Exhibits.

LSU Health New Orleans Respiratory Therapy students Hailey Carter, Justice Pitts, Amanda Nguyen, and Alexis Werner won first place for their poster presentation at the Louisiana Society for Respiratory Care’s 51st Annual Educational Meeting and Exhibits Open Forum for Abstracts. Their presentation, “The Effects of Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking on the Respiratory System,” was about the dangers of hookahs and the misconceptions around them, their comparison to cigarettes, and their effect on the respiratory system.

Amanda Nguyen was the presenting co-author. The medical literature the students reviewed supported their conclusion that the effects of waterpipe tobacco on the respiratory system are not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking and that more attempts to inform the youth population to cease waterpipe tobacco use are needed.

The Louisiana Society for Respiratory Care, established in 1967 as a non-profit organization affiliated with the American Association for Respiratory Care, is dedicated to serving respiratory care practitioners across Louisiana. Their mission is to "encourage and promote professional excellence, advance the science and practice of respiratory care, and serve as an advocate for patients, their families, the public, the profession, and the respiratory therapist."

The Society invites students from the nine respiratory therapy programs across the state to submit an abstract for an opportunity to create an electronic poster for video display during the Annual Educational Meeting and Exhibits, which is held in Baton Rouge. These students gain recognition for their work from leading respiratory therapists, physicians, and other health care professionals. The abstract/poster presentation is also a competition. Among the posters selected for video display, five are chosen for oral presentations to conference attendees. Students presenting oral presentations are judged based on three categories -- poster style: organization and visuals; subject matter and scientific merit; and presentation and interaction with the audience.

The competition occurred shortly before the students graduated from LSU Health New Orleans School of Allied Health Professions.

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