I thought the tongue depressor was to look at the tonsils. I have a thermometer, pulse oximeter, a BP cuff device, some bandaids, antiseptic liquids and ointments, and a roll of bandage wrap. The rest I leave to the butchers and mechanics.
The first thing nurses now do when entering “the surgery” these days is slip on a pulse-ox and still get a bp.
No looking down the throat anymore [I haven’t had tonsils for decades and decades....].
It’s a change of protocol. Especially for those of us who may have skipped a few decades of physicals while in our middle-age “prime”.