Medical surveillance is best described as

• A. The monitoring of outbreak reports
• B. A medical treatment protocol
• C. The monitoring of potentially exposed individuals to detect early symptoms of disease
• D. A PPE usage checklist

Answer: (C)

Medical surveillance is about systematically checking people who may have been exposed to hazardous drugs to catch early signs of adverse effects before they become serious. In practice, this means baseline health data collection and ongoing follow-up through symptom screening and, when needed, laboratory tests. The aim is to detect any early changes related to exposure so that prompt actions can be taken to protect the worker’s health and prevent progression. This is distinct from monitoring disease outbreaks in a population (public health surveillance), following a treatment protocol for illnesses, or using a PPE checklist, which are different activities. For example, a worker handling cytotoxic drugs might have periodic blood tests and health questionnaires to spot early hematologic or organ effects, allowing timely intervention.