{"id":96787,"date":"2024-11-11T14:49:20","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T07:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/levanews.com\/?p=40110"},"modified":"2025-01-22T16:57:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T09:57:48","slug":"end-of-life-nurse-says-there-is-one-sign-people-display-when-close-to-death-the-most-people-dont-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/end-of-life-nurse-says-there-is-one-sign-people-display-when-close-to-death-the-most-people-dont-believe\/","title":{"rendered":"End-of-life Nurse Says There is \u2018One Sign\u2019 People Display When Close to Death The Most People \u2018Don\u2019t Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>For most people, death is depressing and terrifying. This is often because there is so much unknown about death. But one hospice\/palliative care nurse finds the job inspiring.\n<p>She believes that educating people about what happens before death can help make the process easier and more meaningful for the individuals and their loved ones. But there are a few end-of-life phenomena that occur that even she cannot fully explain. One is called \u201cvisioning\u201d.\n</p><p><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"alignnone' size-full wp-image-40119 aligncenter src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/01%5C/Asset6@67.png%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"1560\"' height='\"1560\"' title='\"\"'>\n</p><h4>What is Visioning?\n</h4><p>The term is also known as End-of-Life Dreams and Visions (ELDVs). It refers to when hospice patients report visions, while awake or sleeping, of people who are not there.\n</p><p>Since delirium often comes with the dying process, these reports are easily overlooked by professionals and loved ones looking after the patients. However, paying attention to ELDVs can help support and reassure the patients and help their loved ones connect with them in their final moments.\n</p><p><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"alignnone' size-full wp-image-40120 aligncenter src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/01%5C/shutterstock_2329606493-1.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"1000\"' height='\"667\"' title='\"\"'>\n</p><h4>Types of Visions\n</h4><p>This deathbed phenomena often involves visions of religious figures or deceased friends, relatives, or even pets. These visions are peaceful and comforting. Sometimes it is an unfamiliar person with a soothing presence. The visions may also involve meaningful settings or memories. ELDVs tend to indicate the patient has only a few weeks left to live.\n</p><h4>Visioning or Hallucinating?\n</h4><p>Delirium and visioning may sound similar but they are very different. Hallucinations from delirium tend to be stressful and disorienting, and accompanied by a lack of awareness and focus.\n</p><p>Meanwhile, visioning is a comforting experience that can come alongside full awareness and lucidity. However, many patients won\u2019t report ELDVs in fear of ridicule or embarrassment.\n</p><p><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"alignnone' size-full wp-image-40121 aligncenter src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/01%5C/shutterstock_1670227033.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"1000\"' height='\"666\"' title='\"\"'>\n</p><h4>An End-Of-Life Nurse\n</h4><p>Julie McFadden, BSN, RN, cultivated a following on TikTok where she demystifies death by talking about her work. \u201cPeople often ask, \u2018Isn\u2019t it so depressing?\u2019 It\u2019s sad sometimes, yes. There\u2019s really no way around that,\u201d she wrote on Time.\n</p><p>\u201cBut I don\u2019t find my job to be depressing. In a way, it\u2019s actually a sacred gift to me. The people I\u2019ve met in their dying moments have changed my outlook on life, and far from depressing, I find their stories precious and inspiring.\n</p><h4>\u201cI See it All the Time\u201d\n</h4><p>McFadden explains that visioning occurs a \u201cfew weeks to a month before death, not right before death,\u201d in a TikTok. Although scientists don\u2019t fully understand why it occurs, she clarifies it is not a result of delirium, ICU psychosis, lack of oxygen to the brain, or medication. \u201cIt\u2019s very specific. Always comforting.\u201d\n</p><p>She concludes: \u201cAs an ICU nurse I wouldn\u2019t have believed it either but now that I\u2019ve been a hospice nurse for eight years, I believe it, because I see it all the time.\u201d\n</p><p><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"alignnone' size-full wp-image-40122 aligncenter src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/01%5C/shutterstock_555196696.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"1000\"' height='\"667\"' title='\"\"'>\n</p><h4>\u201cI Ask Specific Questions\u201d\n</h4><p>McFadden believes she may hear more stories about visioning compared to other nurses because of how much time she spends with the families and because of the specific questions she asks.\n</p><p>As she explains in a TikTok, \u201cI don\u2019t say \u2018are they seeing dead relatives.\u2019 I just say \u2018is there anything else that\u2019s concerning you\u2019 after a full visit\u2026\u201d This question often prompts the family or patient to report the ELDVs.\n</p><h4>\u201cShe Came and Told Me\u201d\n</h4><p>She tells one visioning experience she had witnessed involving a couple who had been married for about 70 years. The husband was in hospice when the wife\u2019s sister passed away. The sister was very close to the couple so the wife was afraid of upsetting her husband. After about a week, she finally told him and he said he already knew because the sister was dead because \u201cshe came and told me.\u201d\n</p><p><em>\u201cThat might sound crazy to you but that kind of stuff isn\u2019t that crazy because it happens enough,\u201d the nurse explained. <em>\u201cEspecially if you take the time to talk to people, they will tell you things like this\u2026\u201d The husband, being a Christian, had also had ELDVs of Jesus that comforted him.\n<p><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"alignnone' size-full wp-image-40123 aligncenter src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/01%5C/shutterstock_2185753357.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"\"' width='\"1000\"' height='\"666\"' title='\"\"'>\n</p><h4>Awareness of End-Of-Life Visions\n</h4><p>About 50% to 60% of hospice patients report these end-of-life visions, according to a 2009 report from the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Therefore, authors of an 2023 analysis in the same journal call for better training for hospice profesionals and caregivers to identify and normalize ELDVs.\n</p><h4>Listening to Visioning\n</h4><p>Since these visions are psychologically important, they can \u201cprovide a source for clinical insight\u201d and carers should \u201cavoid dismissing them as alterations of cognition (eg. delirium),\u201d says the authors. Additionally, interpreting and sharing these visions can create \u201cadditional strategies for supporting, reassuring and strengthening the relationship with their loved ones.\u201d Once the fear of judgement is gone, patients may share knowledge that caregivers can use to improve the dying process.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"</p><p>For most people, death is depressing and terrifying. This is often because there is so much unknown about death. But one hospice\/palliative care nurse finds the job inspiring. She believes that educating people about what happens before death can help make the process easier and more meaningful for the individuals and their loved ones. But &hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":96788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-and-tricks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96794,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96787\/revisions\/96794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}</p></em></em></p></em></strong></p>