[Histonet] Re: Color Blindness Testing

[Bob Richmond]

Laurie asks: >>Does  anyone  know of any (free) online testing for
color blindness? Does  anyone have an alternate method that they have
used to satisfy CAP requirements?<<

Here are some online Ishihara plates quickly found through Wikipedia:

http://offsetpressman.blogspot.com/2009/10/color-blindness-test-for-printers.html

There are many others. Two reservations: Color monitors don't
reproduce colors with sufficient accuracy. And an online test may not
satisfy bureaucrats. You'd have to ask.

I have normal color vision, but I've been interested in color
blindness among pathologists for about 50 years. I know of only one
major problem, finding red acid-fast bacilli in a blue-background
stain. This problem should be solved by banning light-microscopic
acid-fast stains, something the CAP should have done years ago.

I don't like the implication of color-blindness testing in the absence
of a significant problem. Can somebody lose their job, or not get
hired in the first place, because of color-blindness?

It may be Good Management, but it's not good medicine or good social policy.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN