Millions Laugh at Her Videos—But Her Real Work Happens at the Bedside
Podcast Episode
If you’ve ever laughed your way through a TikTok of a bewildered man trying, and failing, to pronounce medical terms while his nurse wife looks on, congratulations: you already know Courtnee Stagner. But behind the viral humor and perfectly timed punchlines is a nurse practitioner doing some of the most meaningful work in healthcare today.
On a recent episode of Nurse Converse, I welcomed Courtnee, a fellow Southerner, content creator, and palliative care nurse practitioner, for a conversation that moved seamlessly between comedy and compassion, much like Courtnee’s own career.
A Calling She Didn’t Expect
Courtnee, who works as a palliative care consultant in Mobile, Alabama, spends her days helping patients and families navigate life-altering diagnoses, long hospital stays, and some of the hardest decisions they’ll ever face. Her role centers on one deceptively simple question: What matters most to you right now?
“I came from critical care,” Courtnee shares, recalling her early years in cardiac and medical ICUs. “I loved the drips, the machines, the intensity.” Palliative care, she admitted, wasn’t part of the plan; it found her while she was looking for part-time work after having her son. Like many clinicians, she initially misunderstood hospice and palliative care, thinking it meant “giving up.”
She quickly learned otherwise.
“I realized how much good this work does,” she said. “It’s about helping people live, really live, during the time they have left.”
Redefining Palliative Care
Courtnee emphasizes that palliative care isn’t about hastening death but about preserving dignity, comfort, and humanity. She speaks candidly about guiding families through grief, advocating for patients’ wishes, and dispelling common myths, especially around morphine use at the end of life.
“Morphine doesn’t cause death,” she explained. “The disease does. Morphine helps people breathe easier, feel calmer, and avoid crises. When we start early, patients often do better and sometimes even live longer.”
One particularly moving story involved a patient whose only wish was to leave the hospital and see his dog one last time. He passed peacefully just hours after returning home. “That,” Courtnee said, “is a beautiful death. It honored his wish.”
Honoring What Matters Most
The conversation didn’t shy away from tough topics: religion, cultural practices around death, and the tension nurses often face when advocating for patients against institutional pressures. Courtnee was clear: honoring spiritual and cultural beliefs at the end of life isn’t optional; it’s essential.
“Death is one of the most spiritual moments there is,” she said. “If we disrupt that, we don’t just break policy; we create trauma that families carry forever.”
Humor as Medicine
Despite the heaviness of her work, Courtnee radiates warmth and humor. That balance is on full display in her viral videos with her husband, a former steel mill worker turned full-time comedian who attempts to decode medical terminology with zero clinical background and maximum confidence.
“It’s not scripted,” she laughed. “He has no idea what word I’m going to choose. His brain just… goes there.”
That contrast, deeply serious work paired with genuine laughter, is what makes Courtnee so relatable, especially in a profession facing widespread burnout. Her advice to nurses is refreshingly honest: take your days off, find ways to decompress, protect your peace, and remember you’re only one person in a flawed system.
“Advocate for your patients,” she said. “Do the right thing. And when you go to sleep at night, remind yourself you did the best you could.”
Courtnee represents a new kind of nursing voice, one that can educate, advocate, comfort, and still make you laugh until you cry. In a field that deals daily with life’s hardest moments, that combination may be exactly what healthcare needs more of.
@courtneestagner12 Was it something I said?? #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #nursing #nursinghumor #medicaltiktok #medicalhumor #palliative #palliativecare #palliativecaremedicine #palliativenurse #palliativecarenursepractitioner ♬ original sound - courtneestagner
You can find Courtnee on TikTok at @CourtneeStagner12 and on Instagram at @CourtneeStagner, where humor and heart coexist, just as they do in her work.
🤔Nurses, how do you protect your peace while working in emotionally intense specialties? Share your thoughts in the discussion forum below!
