Introduction: Healthcare workers often face feelings of helplessness when caring for patients. This feeling can cause them to doubt the usefulness of the interventions they perform for the patient, and it can also manifest as a sense of their own worthlessness. The field of healthcare is becoming more complex and demanding each year. We are discovering new diseases for which we do not yet know the treatments. Healthcare workers play a vital role in treating and improving patient conditions; nevertheless, their efforts do not always yield success. There can be many reasons for this. Consequently, they may feel helpless and overwhelmed. All of this affects their continued work, well-being, health status, and intention to remain in the profession. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore and define the feeling of helplessness by reviewing professional and scientific literature, and to understand in which situations healthcare workers experience this feeling and how they cope with it. Methods: The descriptive method of work was used in this thesis, with a review of professional and scientific literature in both Slovenian and English language. Literature was searched in the PubMed, CINAHL, and CINAHL ULTIMATE databases. Results: In various fields of work and across different professions and disciplines, healthcare workers frequently experience feelings of helplessness, which serves as a significant source of stress for them. Discussion and Conclusion: Awareness of the importance of our work and patient care is of utmost importance despite occasional failures. Helplessness occurs in different profiles and is burdensome for everyone. We anticipate that this feeling will become increasingly relevant in the future. We must recognize that not everything is always within our power to improve the given situation.
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