Abstract There is a shortage of psychiatric nurses in hospitals around the world. In the US alone, understaffing of psychiatric wards is estimated between 11% and 28%, which is expected to only get worse in the future (Niu et al., 2019). Violence against nurses is one of the strongest predictors in leaving the profession, as psychiatric nurses are 20 times more likely to be exposed to verbal or physical violence (Niu et al., 2019). The rate of violent incidents is very high, standing at 0.55 incidents per patient bed in a month, which corresponds to the statistics of 82% of women and more than 50% of male nurses facing patient-incited violence at least once a year (Niu et al., 2019). Such incidents greatly increase the likelihood of leaving the profession, contributing to the already enormous attrition rates. De-escalation techniques are some of the tools available to a nurse when dealing with a conflicting patient. Some of these methods involve physical or drug-based restraint, while others are milder and less invasive, including psychological techniques, such as speech, dance, and other cognitive-behavioral tools of influence. The proposed research of quasi-experimental design seeks to evaluate the existing levels of knowledge in psychiatric nurses, educate them in various forms of de-escalation, allow them to utilize the techniques in practice, and evaluate the effectiveness of various forms on nurse satisfaction as well as patient violence rates. Introduction Nurses working in psychiatric services are exposed to much greater degrees of verbal, emotional, and physical violence when compared to other nurses. Niu et al. (2019) report that, on average, nurses in psychiatric wards experience 0.55 incidents of patient-incited violence per bed per month, which is 20 times higher than in other nursing professions. The issue is magnified by the fact that patients cannot always control their violent impulses, and that nurses do not know how to appropriately diffuse the situation (van Leeuwen & Harte, 2017). Because of the high rates of violence, the potential for injury and trauma, and other related factors, turnover rates among healthcare workers in mental care facilities are significantly higher (Zhao et al., 2018). These issues lead to a broad range of consequences for mental healthcare. In the US, to attract and retain nurses, healthcare providers are forced to pay psychiatric nurses about 1/3 more than the average RN earns per year, with paychecks exceeding 100,000 dollars per nurse versus 70,000 dollars per country average (Delaney, Drew, & Rushton, 2019). While the financial compensation is certainly warranted, it imposes additional costs on the system, which are, in turn, making psychiatric assistance less available to the poor and vulnerable populations. High turnover rates also produce understaffing issues, forcing hospitals to impose overtime on their existing staff, potentially exacerbating burnout, apathy, and care fatigue in nurses (Hulme et al. 2019). All of these factors create a full circle, where nurses leave because of various stressors, which become more pronounced due to a lack of staff. De-escalation techniques remain some of the very few tools in a nurse’s repertoire that he or she could use in order to prevent a violent incident from occurring (Kuivala