Palliative Care Nurse's TikTok Video about Dying Received a Million Likes

Palliative care nurse Julie McFadden reached millions of people with TikTok videos she made to inform the public. Medscape Medical News interviewed Julie, who said she was trying to normalize the natural process of dying, help the public accept it and reduce their grief, and answer questions about this process. 

Julie, who previously worked as an intensive care nurse for 14 years, decided to use TikTok to share her experiences with the public. She had been working as a palliative care / hospice (end-of-life care facility) nurse in Los Angeles for the last 5 years and began making TikTok videos 6 months ago, inspired by her nieces. The number of views surprised her 4 days after she began sharing random videos. Since then, Nurse Julie has reached millions of followers with nearly 300 posts. Among her cheerful videos are accounts of funny, frightening, hopeful and unusual events, a nurse's daily life, the last moments of patients nearing death, and patients who came back from the brink of death.

Her most attention-grabbing videos concern 2 situations she frequently encounters. The first is known as a “rally,” described in Turkish as “a period of well-being before death.” Julie says in her popular video "Some of our patients who are very ill and about to die suddenly seem to recover and begin eating, talking and even walking. They seem to have returned to their old selves, and even their blood values are normal. Yet they die within a few days or that night. We do not know why or how this happens, and we cannot explain it" she says.

The second situation occurs a month before patients die. According to Julie, patients say they can see deceased relatives, friends, pets and angels, and that only they can see them. Patients are usually not afraid of what they see; in fact, it makes them more comfortable. They say they are receiving messages and hearing that everything will be all right and that they will come to help.

Working as a nurse during the pandemic gave her new experiences, and working in palliative care makes her happier than working in intensive care. But how can she remain so positive despite encountering so much death?

"My experiences in intensive care changed my perspective on death. Death is something that can happen to all of us, and I find it mysterious. Now I help people who are about to die enjoy their last days, and that makes me happy."

Julie says that working in palliative care taught her how to explain patients’ conditions properly to their families. She considers her work sacred and sees herself as a bridge between people. "Our bodies are made to be born and to die. When we accept this, death becomes easier to get through."

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