Can a pharmacist be color-blind?

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Waffleguy

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I work as a Pharmacy technician at a local, non-chain pharmacy. I mentioned to one of the other techs that I happen to be color blind in a certain spectrum of colors. SHe immediately told me that I could not be a pharmacist because of this. She said that it would be unsafe, and that i would not accurately be able to verify the color of the talbets/capsules, etc.

Does anyone know if there is a law or professional requirement saying that you must not be color-blind? Will this keep me from being a pharmacist? Do they test for color blindness in pharmacy school or before you get your license?

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I work as a Pharmacy technician at a local, non-chain pharmacy. I mentioned to one of the other techs that I happen to be color blind in a certain spectrum of colors. SHe immediately told me that I could not be a pharmacist because of this. She said that it would be unsafe, and that i would not accurately be able to verify the color of the talbets/capsules, etc.

Does anyone know if there is a law or professional requirement saying that you must not be color-blind? Will this keep me from being a pharmacist? Do they test for color blindness in pharmacy school or before you get your license?

I believe there is already a thread about this.

Why are you asking a tech? Don't believe everything they say. Pills have all those names, dosage, numbers, etc on them for a reason. If your worried ask a pharmacist. There are a lot of people who have minor colorblindness.
 
Wouldn't that be discrimination? No they do not test you for color-blindness. You might have to be a little more careful for distinguishing pills, but there are other ways to do it besides just color if that ever came up.
 
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I agree, don't listen to that pharmacy tech....Being color blind does not have anything to do with you being a pharmacist, yes you will have to be more careful, but you will still be able to do your job to the fullest..
 
Ha Ha. That's funny. Can you become a pharmacist if you are too short and can't reach the counter? Besides being mentally unstable or not having normal brain capacity, you can be licensed to be a pharmacist. That person was probably just messing with your head. :laugh:
 
That's what NDCs are for. Of course you can be color-blind and a pharmacist!
 
Slap her in the mouth.
 
I actually called my the board of pharmacy in my state today to ask. They told me that there is no law in my state concerning colorblind pharmacists, and that I would not have trouble getting into pharmacy school because of it.
 
Yes, of course you can. It's not like you couldn't turn to someone next to you and ask, "Hey what color is this pill?" I remember reading something somewhere how some analytical chemist had his wife come in and tell him when solutions changed colors during titrations....so maybe that's a possibility. :D
 
I'm partially color blind, too. Several blues/greens all look the same to me. But I'm fine professionally. In fact, the hospital I work at even did a color blindness test during my physical so they actually know about it. They didn't seem to care. Being that my job revolves around interpreting physician orders, doing kinetics, and writing random recommendations, I'm not sure it really matters.
 
I love this question. "Can a pharmacist be color-blind?" The answer is absolutely not, pharmacists are all born with the ability to differentiate the whole spectrum.

I work with a color-blind pharmacist and doubt it is his inability to see color that makes him a poor pharmacist.
 
Some people have questioned the ability of pharmacists to perform his duties if the pharmacist is color blinded. There are pharmacists who practice and are blind. Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something that you have the full competency to do so.
 
Ha Ha. That's funny. Can you become a pharmacist if you are too short and can't reach the counter? Besides being mentally unstable or not having normal brain capacity, you can be licensed to be a pharmacist. That person was probably just messing with your head. :laugh:
lol.
 
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