When Collecting a Sputum Specimen?

Take a very deep breath and hold the air for 5 seconds. Slowly breathe out. Take another deep breath and cough hard until some sputum comes up into your mouth. Spit the sputum into the plastic cup.

When should sputum specimens be collected?

Sputum specimens should be collected in the early morning if possible. Collect 3 sputum specimens on 3 consecutive days unless otherwise instructed. Specimens should be kept in the refrigerator until they are submitted to the laboratory.

When collecting a sputum sample what information is included on the specimen cup?

One patient per line. The list should include: patient name, identifier number, sex, age (birth date), clinical information: symptoms, date of onset, date specimen was collected, type of sample taken.