The purpose of the influence paper for this course was to research and reflect upon a current health issue. The topic my team member and I chose was the effect of the nurse-patient ratio on quality patient care. Our paper had a focus on the PICO question: In acute care settings, what is the impact of lower nurse-to-patient ratio [as compared to a higher nurse-to-patient ratio] on patient safety and quality outcomes? The articles we researched opened our eyes to the impact of the nurse to patient ratio on patient quality outcomes.