Oh, cool! My first idea of what I want to become was actually an emergency rescue helicopter pilot. I always wanted to be able to help people in any situation but I thought I don't have the social skills or wouldn't be able to deal with the responsibility to save people so I thought being the helicopter pilot I can at least bring the real heroes faster where they are needed. I didn't follow this path since it was too expensive and I didn't want to join the military so they might pay for it. At some point, I discovered computer science in school and simply studying it felt more safe and aligned with what I can see myself doing as a profession long-term.

A few years after that incident iirc, I joined the German Red Cross on a voluntary basis. I was just a simple paramedic assistant but not sure if that is the correct translation. It was the first training (just two weekends iirc) after which you are qualified to be the first responder and apply first aid to keep people alive long enough until the real help comes. We call it "Sanitätshelfer (SanH)" in Germany. The real training obviously happened on-the-job (like with many other things in life).

That's where I also learned how to approach a patient and these questions made a lot more sense, lol. The coolest thing must have been how I saw other medics being able to check the pulse of a patient (how strong, how fast, how regular) simply by shaking their hands so the patient doesn't even notice it and might adapt their heart rate.

So don't see this as "don't ask these questions", I totally get it now. They make sense but in the moment, they felt so out of context. I am sure you can understand and just wanted to share your view, too. :)

But some (most?) patients are probably just insufferable anyway for a multitude of other reasons (?)