The Eclipsys Corporation has launched an automated toolkit to help hospitals limit the spread of the H1N1 influenza in waiting areas.

The toolkit supports triage personnel in the rapid identification, isolation and treatment of patients who might have the H1N1 influenza. By combining customized documentation templates, orders, clinical alerts and analytics, the tool is designed to accelerate the identification and isolation process from anywhere from five to 72 hours sooner, as compared to current clinical workflows.

The free toolkit is available to Eclipsys clients via Web download and works in conjunction with the Sunrise Clinical Manager clinical information system.

The solution prompts caregivers to assess patients for the presence of acute respiratory disease and accompanying risk factors. If positive conditions are indicated, laboratory orders for influenza screening (including H1N1 flu-specific orders) are triggered. The patient is then placed on a watch list, followed by the creation of patient education and preventive treatment instructions.

The toolkit also allows for the export of data to the CDC.

"In the United States, one in four medical orders placed daily by inpatient clinicians is performed using an Eclipsys system," said Richard P. Mansour, MD, Eclipsys' chief medical informatics officer and vice president of product innovation. "Given that industry leadership, we are uniquely positioned to help minimize the negative impact of this pandemic and have taken a rapid and proactive response to assist our clients to help better isolate and manage H1N1 symptoms to stave off acute states and slow – or eliminate – the virus' spread across populations of patients."

Eclipsys' officials said they will modify the toolkit as needed to include new treatment guidelines as issued by the CDC or the World Health Organization.