Objective To explore the application effect of plan-do-check-act (PDCA) video education on quality improvement of sputum culture specimens. Methods Sputum specimens collected from hospitalized patients in the infectious diseases department of a hospital between March 13 and April 2, 2017 were investigated (before improvement); PDCA countermeasures were implemented (countermeasure 1:establishing flow chart of sputum specimen collection; countermeasure 2:establishing examination standard of sputum specimen collection; countermeasure 3:making video of sputum specimen collection), May-July 2017 was as peri-improvement data, August-December 2017 was as post-improvement data, the qualified sputum specimens in different periods were compared. Results Before improvement, among 146 sputum specimens from hospitalized patients, 45 of which were qualified, qualified rate was 30.82%. "Failure to correctly understand the content of education" was the primary cause for the unqualified sputum specimens, accounting for 79.21% (80/101). Through PDCA cycle, the qualified rate of sputum specimens increased from 31.51% (45/146) before improvement to 67.33% (101/150) after implementation of three countermeasures, and the improvement range was 54.23%. The qualified rate of sputum specimen collected after video broadcast increased from 58.14% (25/43) to 81.82% (54/66), increased by 23.68%, the effect was most obvious. After improvement, the qualified rate of sputum specimens fluctuated around 65% for consecutive 5 months, which was significantly higher than before improvement, slightly lower than peri-improvement, and achieved good results. Conclusion Video education can effectively improve the quality of sputum specimen collection and qualified rate of sputum specimens, at the same time, it can save time and energy of nurses, optimize the workflow and improve the satisfaction of patients for nursing services.