TEDx Nightingale College Talk Named Editor’s Pick, Exposes Policy Exacerbating U.S. Nursing Shortage
Blake Wm. Halladay's talk calls for an end to an arbitrary policy that's shrinking the nursing workforce and excluding qualified nursing students
SALT LAKE CITY, July 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A TEDx talk by Nightingale College nurse leader and regulatory strategist Blake Wm. Halladay, RN, has been named a TED Editor’s Pick, a distinction reserved for timely, research-backed talks representing “ideas worth spreading.” In his talk, “We need more nurses. Here’s how to train them,” Halladay challenges a policy that allows nursing programs to be sanctioned or shut down, not because their graduates fail the national licensing exam (NCLEX), but because too many needed more than one attempt to pass.
After reviewing nursing education laws in every U.S. state and territory, Halladay found 26 different formulas for an “acceptable” first-time pass rate — with no consistent evidence linking the metric to school quality or patient safety.
“Every medication, every intervention we give as nurses has to be based on evidence that it works and that it’s safe,” Halladay said during the talk. “But the regulations governing nursing education itself are often based on nothing more than opinion.”
Halladay shared what the evidence shows:
- A Journal of Nursing Regulation study examining 250,000 nurses over five years found no difference in disciplinary or safety outcomes between nurses who passed the NCLEX on their first attempt and those who passed later.
- The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), which writes and administers the exam, identified its own indicators of nursing school quality. First-time pass rate was not among them.
A Nurse Behind the Data
The story of Candelaria “Candy” Nava, who passed the NCLEX on her sixth attempt, is one of many examples of the human cost of this policy. Nava is bilingual and has worked full time serving Spanish-speaking clients through most of her nursing journey. But she needed additional coaching to help her succeed in the test.
“I was so anxious and depressed, and I knew that wasn't helping,” Nava said. “I had to fix that first. Once I did, everything else fell into place.”
She rebuilt her preparation from the ground up through daily practice questions, visual study tools and a consistent routine, even when progress was slow.
When she found out she had passed, she was at the airport waiting for her sister's flight. “I started jumping,” she said. “I told her, ‘I did it.’ I felt like it was finally my time.” Nava was offered an RN position as soon as she passed and is now an RN serving the Hispanic community in Logan, Utah.
A Workforce the System Can’t Afford to Keep Filtering Out
Nava’s experience reflects a documented pattern. NCSBN data show first-attempt NCLEX performance correlates with socioeconomic stability, language background and access to test-prep resources — not long-term clinical competence.
Meanwhile, the U.S. nursing shortage continues to get worse. More than 193,100 open RN positions need to be filled yearly. A projected 8% nursing shortage is expected through 2028, with the demand for licensed practical nurses exceeding supply through 2038. Contributing to that shortage, a record-breaking 93,000 qualified nursing applications were turned away in 2025, a figure driven in part by enrollment caps schools impose to protect first-time pass rates.
A Call for Evidence-Based Reform
NCSBN updated its own guidance to encourage state boards to track multiyear performance trends rather than penalize single-year fluctuations. National accreditors CCNE, CNEA and ACEN have adopted three-year rolling averages; many state regulators have not.
Halladay calls on state boards of nursing to follow NCSBN’s model and policymakers to heed the National Academy of Medicine’s call to look beyond first-time pass rates altogether.
“We have a nursing shortage crisis in this country,” Halladay said. “It is time to build a system that unleashes the nursing workforce we so desperately need.”
The full talk is available here.
Nightingale College
Nightingale College advances health equity by creating opportunity and access to nursing education across the United States. The college offers accredited programs at the certificate, associate, baccalaureate, and master levels through its innovative learning model. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Nightingale College combines online coursework with hands-on experiential learning in local communities to develop confident, competent, and compassionate nurses who address critical workforce shortages and improve health outcomes across diverse populations. For more information, visit nightingale.edu.
Media Contact
Paul Murphy, Nightingale College
Pmurphy@nightingale.edu
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