WITH little cash in his pocket and an extra large suitcase filled with newly tailored nurse uniforms, Dr. Rhigel Jay Tan, 22, left the country in 1994 to try his luck in the US.

At the private practice where Susan VanBeuge works as a nurse practitioner, she and the practice’s physician complement each other. The physician, who often takes on a more clinical demeanor, introduces the nurse as the patient’s advocate and champion.

No nurse — in fact, no patient, no wide-eyed puppy, no sentient creature anywhere — should ever have to face Dr. Sandy Beirle when she’s looking for missing lab results. Take Caitlin Bagwell, a student at the UNLV school of nursing, who recently walked into an examination room and offered Beirle an innocent “Good morning.”

“Eat right” — it’s usually one of the first bits of advice doled out to any dieter.

But counting every calorie and tracking grams of sugar and fat in a diet can be a hassle, one many dieters put off or avoid entirely.

Rhigel “Jay” Tan knew there had to be a better way. Like many of his colleagues, the UNLV professor and psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner had long been skeptical of the trial-and-error approach to prescribing medicine for mental health patients.

Being stressed may seem like a problem as fleeting as the bad day that may have caused it, but it is believed to add up.

Finding reliable objective measures for chronic pain is an important step to advancing pain management. Recently, investigators have identified a variety of pain biomarkers, understood as integral to nociceptive functioning, and have used them as therapeutic targets when assessing exercise as an intervention for chronic pain conditions. However, could such biomarkers function as actual objective measures for chronic pain, as well?

Diabetes specialists Tomas Walker and Aimee Jose, who graduated five years apart from UNLV's nursing school, are each playing a role in the creation of a so-called artificial pancreas system, a mobile app-based tool that monitors and balances blood sugar levels.

Nursing is among the most rewarding careers, but also one of the most demanding – long hours, irregular schedules, emotionally involved. You’ve probably heard by now that the key to better pay and higher positions in nursing is further education, but who has the time to go back to school when you have a challenging job, and, perhaps, a family to care for?

When Scott Lamprecht started his career, he was the only male nurse among 80 staffers in his unit at an Illinois hospital.

When Scott Lamprecht started his career, he was the only male nurse among 80 staffers in his unit at an Illinois hospital.

Second-grader Milan Frederick, 8, received Guy Elementary School’s Citizenship Award, High Achiever Award, Art Award, the Test Math 2-12 Ribbons Award and was on the All A Honor Roll. She is the daughter of Anthony and Victoria Frederick and granddaughter of Elton and Sandra Linton, all of North Las Vegas.