Hannah Buettner

University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Hannah Buettner is a leading researcher in surgical simulation and patient safety, with a focused expertise on robotic surgery emergency preparedness. Her work addresses a critical gap in modern operating rooms: the unique risks posed when a surgeon is not at the bedside during robotic procedures. Buettner’s major contributions center on developing and validating high-fidelity, in-situ simulation protocols to train entire operating room teams for rare but life-threatening events. Her landmark study, "Use of In-Situ Simulation Based Clinical Systems Test of Thoracic Robotic Surgery Emergencies" (2022, 13 citations), pioneered a systems-level approach to testing team performance under realistic conditions. She further advanced this field with "Emergent robotic surgery conversions: improving operating room team performance through high fidelity simulations" (2024, 6 citations), which demonstrated that structured training in emergency robotic undocking protocols significantly improves team coordination and response times during simulated intraoperative hemorrhages. By transforming abstract safety concerns into measurable, trainable skills, Buettner’s research directly enhances the resilience of surgical teams, making her a vital voice in the ongoing effort to make robotic surgery safer for patients.