Internet and Psychiatry

normal. She was started on rigorous treatment of heat stroke as well as bromocriptine, although there was no clinical evidence of Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome. She also received intensive measures to bring about body cooling. However, her condition started deteriorating and after about 26 hours, her renal function was affected reflected by steadily increasing levels of urea and creatinine. She became delirious and gradually slipped into coma from which she never recovered. There was profuse bleeding from her gums and nose suggesting of an intravascular coagulation defect. The treating physician made a diagnosis of heat stroke which was rampant during that week affecting primarily the elderly and the mentally ill. There have been some reports of heat stroke deaths in patients on neuroleptics. A paper from Netherlands describes a similar phenomenon of fatal heat stroke in two patients, one on pimozide and clomipramine and the other on droperidol, promethazine and zuclopenthixol (Fijinheer et al., 1995). Rise in body temperature has been reported after clozapine therapy (Gaertneret al., 1989). This apart, the wandering behaviour of some of the schizophrenic patients with inadequate fluid intake could compound this problem, although this is not applicable to the case described. In torrid summers, we must be aware of the role of neuroleptics in temperature dysregulation, which makes the mentally ill more vulnerable to heat strokes. It may be necessary to take some precautionary measures before the advent of scorching summers to prevent recurrence of such events. (1995) Psychiatric medication as a risk factor for fatal heat stroke. As we are approaching the new millennium, the communication technology is expanding rapidly and is producing its impact in almost all disciplines of life. The maturing of technologies has ushered in a whole new era of applications and services in the health care environment. Teleworking, teleconsultation, multimedia conferencing and medical data distribution are rapidly becoming commonplace in clinical practice. The Internet is a rapidly growing communication resource that is beginning to have an impact on medicine, and it is anticipated that the Internet will soon have a major impact on psychiatry. The Internet has great potential in psychiatric education, clinical care, research, and administration. Advances in information technology now offer several options for the psychiatrists to navigate the increasingly complex terrain of scientific literature and keep abreast of the rapidly changing advances in our field. There are different websites on Internet through which information on any area of …