Hospice nurse goes viral on TikTok for revealing what most people say before they die

A hospice nurse has revealed what it's really like for a patient at the end of their life. Photo / @hospicenursejulie

A hospice nurse has revealed the most common words people say before they die.

A registered nurse from Los Angeles, Julie has worked in a hospice for around five years - and she's been using her expertise to educate her thousands of TikTok followers about the realities of the end of life, reports The Sun.

Her love for her job and her patients has led to her videos going viral.

She told the outlet, "I love educating patients and families about what to expect with hospices and what to expect with the specific disease they are dying from.

"I also really like giving the patient and family some comfort knowing we will be there to manage their symptoms.

"I have worked as a hospice nurse for about five years and before that, I was an ICU nurse for nine years so I've been doing this type of work for 14 years."

Julie said her aim was to educate others. She recently posted a TikTok video about the normal things that happen to people when they die.

Changes in breathing and skin colour as well as fevers are all normal stages of death, she revealed.

"The best part about my job is educating patients and families about death and dying as well as supporting them emotionally and physically," she said.

"Also, helping them to understand what to expect is another part of my job as a hospice nurse.

"There is something most people say before they die and it's usually 'I love you' or they call out to their mum or dad — who have usually already died."

Most people show the same symptoms if they are dying naturally in hospice care - this is called the actively dying phase.

"The symptoms of the actively dying phase include changes in consciousness (unconscious), changes in breathing, mottling and terminal secretions."

"These are normal and NOT painful or uncomfortable."

"Our bodies take care of ourselves at the end of life — the less we intervene, the better."

Julie also debunked some common myths about hospices, including the assumption that everyone in hospices dies right away and that morphine makes people die more quickly.

"There are some assumptions that people make. Another one that's completely not true is that hospices kill people."

She couldn't believe how quickly her post went viral after she shared her knowledge on social media, and said the response has been incredible.

"I knew I had a lot of interesting information about death and dying that most people don't know about. I want to normalise death by educating people about it. I went home to visit my family, and my tween nieces were on TikTok making dance videos.

"I later went on TikTok to see their dances. This gave me the idea of starting my own TikTok about death and dying, four days later I did it and it took off.

"I've been doing it for six months now and have over 340,000 followers — it's crazy!"