Method and apparatus for accessing medical data over a network

A method for accessing medical data from a server while performing a medical procedure, comprising:

• receiving a plurality of commands from an input device including an instrument command that has an associated instrument qualifier, and a data retrieval command having an associated patient record identifier;
• transmitting a request to the server for the unit of patient data in response to the data retrieval command;
• receiving the unit of patient data from the server;
• and
• displaying the unit of patient data on a display device.

An operating room control system for use during a medical procedure on a patient, comprising:

• a plurality of medical devices, each device having an associated device identifier;
• a voice input device capable of receiving spoken device commands having associated device qualifiers, and also capable of receiving spoken voice data retrieval commands having an associated data retrieval qualifier;
• a display device;
• a master controller coupled to the input device, the master controller capable of receiving the data retrieval commands and the device commands, wherein the master controller receives a command having a qualifier and transmits the command to a network so as to retrieve a unit of information when the qualifier is a data retrieval qualifier, and wherein the master controller transmits the command to a selected medical device when the qualifier is a device qualifier, the selected medical device being selected from the plurality of medical devices and having an associated device identifier matching the device qualifier;
• and
• a slave controller coupled to the master controller and the display device, the slave controller capable of transmitting a request for the unit of information to a server, receiving the unit of information from the server, and displaying the unit of information on the display device.