Angelite Nurses

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio nurses and patients called for legislative action Tuesday in hopes of making the state's hospitals safer for patients.

A House bill will be introduced that will require limits on how many patients a nurse could have on her floor at one time, NBC 4's Mike Bowersock reported.

Nurses rallied at the Statehouse for smaller nurse-to-patient ratios.

They claimed that in some units, the nurse-to-patient ratio was 14:1. They said a safe ratio is more like a quarter of that.

"In order for patients to enter the hospital setting safely and exit safely, there needs to a 1:4 or less of nursing care assigned to a patient clientele," said Adrienne Zurub with National Nurses Organizing Committee.

"The demographic is usually of high acuity. It is even more important for the sake of patients and for the sake of nurses to do their direct care to ensure those ratios are met."

One patient in attendance claimed to have suffered through nine days without having a wound dressed, Bowersock reported.