Collection and Handling

Sputum Specimens

1. Ideally, the patient should brush teeth and rinse well with water first.
2. The patient should exhale forcibly, then cough deeply before inhaling to raise lower respiratory secretions. Saliva is not an appropriate specimen. Several attempts may be necessary to produce a suitable specimen.
3. The specimen must be in the appropriate container for the requested testing.
   1. For sputum culture, the specimen should be expectorated into a sterile, screw top plastic container.
   2. Note: For cytology examination, the specimen should be expectorated into a special sputum collection conainer containing Saccomanno's fixative (2% Carbowaxâ solution). This specimen should be capped tightly and shaken to mix the specimen and fixative. This specimen however, cannot be used for culturing.
4. The container should be labeled per Laboratory Labeling Policy and sent to the laboratory along with the appropriate requisition form. If delay of greater than 1 hour is expected, the specimen should be refrigerated.
5. For those patients without a productive cough, the physician may request respiratory therapy to induce sputum production through postural drainage, thoracic percussion, or hypertonic saline aerosol mist.
6. For patients with tracheotomies, a Luken's trap may be used to collect the specimen.