Some very interesting information has come to light following a study which … suggests that it is the ward staff, and not the patients, who play the key role in influencing how much conflict and containment occur on psychiatric wards.

One day someone will take the risky step of talking to staff. Every single nurse knows this. All of them. Without exception. You know exactly what sort of shift you would have – regardless of what might happen – by looking at who you were working with. If you had the right staff then you knew that no matter what happened – from tables being thrown, people being damaged, threats, self-injury – all would either be calm or antagonistic. It wasn’t rocket science. Go into ANY psych ward and ask the staff who they don’t like working with and they will tell you. It has nothing to do with whose fingerprints are missing from the kettle at shift end and everything to do with how that person interacts with patients.
One staff member can create trouble and the patients pay for that as do the staff. There is no need for it. Patients are not there for amusement or trouble to help pass the shift yet some staff would think they are – and no-one likes them. You can even ask the patients which staff they don’t like and again you will have the same people named.
Student nurses know this. Managers know it. Domestic staff know it. But someone just funded someone a stack of money to basically say that water is wet.

Look at it this way: who has control on a ward? It is they who decide – sometimes minute by minute – what goes on and how the outcome will be determined.
New insight into acute inpatient psychiatric care | Mental Healthy.