The purpose of this study was determine to the meaning and the essence of hospitalization experiences of elderly patients, by means of Colaizzi's phenomenological method. The participants were 7 elderly people over the age of 65. They were selected using a theoretical sampling technique. Data were collected by in-depth and open ended interviews from Nov. I to Dec. 12, 1996. The length of the interviews was from 50 minutes to 90 minutes. Data were tape recorded and analyzed by a constant comparative method. From the data 175 significant statements were extracted, then were organized into 31 themes, resulting in 8 clusters of themes and 5 categories. Final descriptions were turned out to be valid through interviewee' validation process. Essential themes of hospitalization experiences emerged : "unexpected change in mind", "reflection of lives", "uneasy hospitalization hie", "building of new personal relationship", "bi-directional thoughts about the families". From these results, we found elderly patients wanted a comfortable, homey life in hospital, and the reflection of their past life meant to overcome given their situations. In conclusion, we suggest that nurses should provide more support and information to solve the problems experienced by older people. Thus we expect to provide understanding of the phenomena of the hospitalization experiences of elderly patients and give the basic data of holistic care for them.