Sputum (expectorated)

Before the patient has recieved antibiotic treatment

Instructions shoud be given to the patient beforehand by a nurse or a laboratory technician:

• The patient should be standing, if possible, or sitting upright in bed
• Have patient rinse or gargle with water to remove excess oral flora
• He or She should take a very deep breath to fill the lungs, and empty them in one breath, coughing as hard and deeeply as possible
• The sputum brought up should be spit into the container
• If the quantity of sputum is not sufficient (1-2 mL), the procedure must be repeated (A single well collected specimen, however, is better than a specimen collected over several hours)
• Before being sent to the laboratory, the specimen should undergo a brief visual evaluation and its appearance shoud be reported on the request form
• Tighten the cap on the container and send it to the laboratory

• Clean, wide-mouthed screw-capped container

• The specimen should contain lower respiratory secretions
• If the specimen only or mainly consists of saliva, it will not be processed by the laboratory