Background Two million of Sweden’s population is 65 years of age or older and the number is increasing. Elderly patients are more frequent users of the emergency department. Forty percent of the visitors in the emergency department are represented by this patient category. Nurses need to understand how individual experiences of care might affect the next visit for the patient. Frail elderly has limited resources to spare and the emergency department is not suited for them. Nurses need to see how they can change and/or adapt to fulfil the needs of this group. The need for knowledge is always a requirement for nurses.

Aim The purpose of this study was to describe frail elderly person´s experiences of the emergency department.

Method The method was a literature-based study based on the analysis of nine qualitative studies.

Results Three main themes emerged in the results; accessibility of the emergency department, experiences leading to seek care in the emergency department and moments that has affected the experience of the emergency department. Experience of the emergency department was also affected by the patient’s health-literacy.

Conclusion The quality of care, the past experience of care and the accessibility to comprehensive care were factors that influenced why frail elderly choose to seek non urgent treatment in the emergency department, even though they knew they would have to wait. The main reason for seeking care in the emergency department was based on the experience of convenience.