From my experience on the patient-advocate side of things: it turns out to be really very helpful to be nice to the people taking care of your loved ones. A batch of cookies for the nurses turns into extra time with a patient, which results in a marked improvement in the patient's comfort and typically in recovery time as well.

Do this often enough and that one time that things are not going well and one must become the Very Nice Man Who Is Being Quite Calmly Very Firm Right Now, has amazing returns on getting things fixed.