If a patient needs a sputum smear, he or she can send the sputum to the hospital’s laboratory department, which will obtain a sputum sample for a glass smear, which will then be stained with antacid, and then the laboratory doctor will look for the tuberculosis bacteria. The results are usually available in the hospital within 2 hours, except for holidays, and all sputum smear results can be reported on the same day as long as the test is sent on the same day. For sputum tests sent on the same day, the patient should submit the test report to the doctor for analysis and appropriate guidance and treatment after the results are available on the same day.