Background: 1 of 3 women exposes to intimate partner violence throughout their lives but not all women choose to talk about their life situation. Nurses have a responsibility to care and to create a respectful relationship with these women, using guidelines and routines from the workplace. Even though these guidelines exist, several nurses choose not to ask women about their vulnerability.

Aim: The aim in this literature review was to illuminate nurses experience of asking adult women if they have been exposed to intimate partner violence.

Method: This study analyzed nurses’ experiences and it contains nine articles with both qualitative and quantitative designs that have been analyzed with the support of Friberg’s three-step model.

Results: The result was divided in two themes which was education and emotional influence. Nurses considered that experience and knowledge were important for them to dare to ask about intimate partner violence. They felt guilty when they didn’t ask the women about violence and other nurses felt good when they were helpful. The nurses also had a desire for changes such as having training, protocol, and better teamwork.

Conclusion: Nurses experienced that knowledge and training encouraged them to ask women about intimate partner violence. Unexperienced nurses felt more insecure and experienced nurses felt safer in the meeting with the women, and they wished for further development in the form of protocol, commitment, and training.