Background-Grieving and death rituals vary widely across cultures and often are influenced geographical regions, religions, local norms. Nursing rituals reflect forms of cultural behavior that assist in communicating traditional knowledge and practices. They help nurses maintain social order through cohesion and interaction. Aim: Exploration of European and Middle Eastern intensive care nursing ceremonies and rituals surrounding care provided to patients after death has occurred.The key question researchers asked was "can you describe your practice of caring for a patient who has died". Method: Prospective qualitative thematic analysis investigating nursing practice and rituals when caring for patients who have died in intensive care. The interviews were conducted face-to-face with nurses consenting to be interviewed for research purposes. During the interviews, researchers noted sentences and topics, which they later classified into categories and sub-categories. The interview settings were international and national conferences, workshops, meetings and seminars over a twoyear period. Thematic analysis was performed. This analysis allowed the researchers to understand and make sense of collective meanings and experiences of participants. Findings: 23 interviews with critical care nurses from 16 countries in Europe and Middle East were conducted. Through reflective and meaningful analytical interpretation, two main themes (with subthemes) emerged: Sacredness and Dignity. More similarities than differences among the nurses' experiences were found. Rituals included, opening a window, lighting a candle, blessing the deceased, and bereaving with the family. Conclusions: Post-death ritual reflect local guidelines regulating the handling of the deceased body, culturally approved expressions of mourning, and acts to perform at specific times following death. Nursing rituals expressed here demonstrated the dignity, which nurses show towards the deceased and relationships between deceased and bereaved. Relevance to clinical practice: The investigators perceived nursing culture, beliefs, ceremonies and rituals surrounding caring for patients who have died to be creative, spiritual, meaningful and relevant for nurses

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