I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that even though I’m focused on one specific patient, when it comes to that patient, I’m smarter than the vast majority of hospital personnel except for surgeons and specialists. Most of the people wandering around here are well meaning and somewhat well trained, sure, but they simply aren’t that bright. I’m used to this feeling out in the everyday world, but damn it’s frustrating in circumstances like these.
EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I believe they’re good people doing difficult jobs. But they’ve been trained to follow orders. Hospital protocols, doctors’ orders, conventional wisdom, whatever. And that sort of training naturally filters out creative thinking, insight, and initiative. The people who have those qualities move on either to other jobs or to become, like I said, surgeons and specialists.
EDIT: Hospital-acquired delirium (if you can't figure it out from the name alone, google it) is a candidate for The Worst Thing in the World™. It's like speed-running dementia; what "normally" takes years to develop, and therefore gives you and your family time to adjust, can happen in hours. And then if you're lucky it just goes away, but there's always a chance it might come back.