House Supervisor, Victoria McArdle, started working to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a nurse later in life. Already a single mom of four, she worked three jobs, and it took eight years, but it was all worth it. 

“People don’t realize what a great career nursing is, it’s not just bedside patient care … the opportunities are endless.” 

Her current role as a House Supervisor allows her to encourage and guide nurses and patient care techs, nurture new grads and help with decision making processes to get the best possible patient outcomes. “I would describe my job as getting to be the head coach of an awesome team.”

McArdle spent the first 10 years of her career working in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit under world-renowned cardiac surgeon, Jack Copeland, and was given the opportunity to help develop the adult ECMO program. “It was an intense and rewarding start to my dream career.”

When new graduate nurses shadow McArdle, she is very honest about her journey to cardiac nursing, “I always tell them that I never wanted to be a cardiac nurse. But when I was offered a position in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, I thought, “Why would I turn down a job?” It may have started out a bit scary, but in the end, she was hooked.

“It makes sense; my favorite thing to do as a teenager was to work on cars with my dad. I’ve loved to work on cars all throughout my life really. I love seeing how things work and putting things back together.” Cardiac care for her is akin to getting under the hood and putting patients back together and on the road to recovery.

It is also very important to McArdle to work for an organization that cares about the community. “I’m proud to say that I work at Tucson Medical Center because we have such an amazing reputation as a great organization that gives back to the community.”

The role of the House Supervisor is one of constant action, advising, coaching and decision-making. “I like to tell myself to just keep swimming when there is a lot going on.” 

McArdle attributes a lot of her success as a nurse to hard work and the support of her family. “I am grateful to my family for their support and confidence in me and their readiness to help with whatever I needed, whenever I needed it, day or night.”

Tucson Nurses Week Foundation recognizes, publicizes, and supports the accomplishments, innovations, and contributions of nurses to the health of our community by honoring 50 outstanding nurses as the Fabulous 50. Well done, Victoria, on being nominated and recognized as one of Tucson’s Fab 50 nurses.