Background: Telenursing is an expanding working area for nurses. Meeting the patient by the phone without seeing each other requires special skills by the nurse.

Aim: The purpose of the study was to describe the nurse's experience by telephone advice.

Method: The method used was literature review based on previous research. Seven articles with qualitative approach were selected and were analyzed by qualitative content analysis.

Results: The study resulted in three main categories; Acquiring information from the patient which requires responsiveness, observance of non-verbal signals, listening to the voice, showing empathy and taking the time. Assessing and taking action through asking the right questions to be able to figure out the problem. Dilemmas in meetings due to limited resources in healthcare, being questioned by patients and finally different standards between the nurse and the patient.

Conclusion: The conclusions of the study were that the nurse's work by the phone involves building a picture without any visual clues of the patients problem to be able to assess and take proper action. The nurse has to rely on her ears and be responsive to what the patient explains but must also be observant on what the patient is not telling her.