Hey everybody, Stacy here. I know you have been all waiting with beaded breath to figure out who won the indicator of the year. Thank you all for your votes.

We have tallied them up and we have a winner. I'm about to call them now.

Stacy Vanick Smith!

Robert Smith! I wanted to officially congratulate you. Your topic of inflation was our indicator of the year.

Oh my gosh, a dream come true! We got more than a thousand votes, Robert.

Are you kidding me? No, I'm not. And you edged out Mary Childs in the labor market by 11 votes.

Oh, oh! Listen, I want to thank everyone who paid too much money for their goods and services, who created inflation and for everyone who voted for me.

Thank you, Robert and congratulations. Thanks, Stacy.

NPR

So Stacy, think about your typical work day. Like how long would you say your typical work day is?

My typical work day? Like eightish, nineish hours? But like how many of those hours would you say you're actually work working?

Eightish, nineish hours? Interesting pause.

Every second, Adrian, I'm working every second of my work day. That's a good answer.

Okay, so like you and I work eightish or nineish hours. At least that's what we're saying on the podcast.

But like imagine if your average work day was more like 12 hours long. And imagine how much more stressful it would be if the whole time every decision you make is basically a matter of life and death.

And maybe you don't have to imagine because maybe you are one of three million or so people in the US that works as a nurse.

Add a surging wave of COVID and it is no wonder that so many nurses are saying they are burned out. But the conditions for this burnout did not just start during the pandemic. Some actually go back decades.

This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Stacy Vannick Smith.

And I'm Adrian Ma. Today on the show, one of the foremost researchers in the field of nursing explains the unintended consequences of getting what you want.

And a fundamental tweak that could prevent more nurses from burning out.

Support for NPR and the following message come from Salesforce. All great businesses have one thing in common. Happy customers.

That's why Salesforce offers the sales service and marketing tools to help any size business grow with every customer. Learn more at salesforce.com slash grow.

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