Low temperature sterilization is used to process an estimated 15–20 percent of reusable medical devices in healthcare sterile processing departments. Advances in medical instrument design and growing surgical demand have increased the need for low temperature sterilization. This session examines current and emerging low temperature sterilization technologies, identifies key concepts of assurance of sterility, and explains what it means and how it is achieved. Real-world examples will show how enhanced quality assurance monitoring tools empower sterile processing professionals to make informed practice decisions. Thought-provoking questions will be woven throughout, allowing participants to check their knowledge on low temperature sterilization.

Larry Talapa MS, CQE Larry Talapa is a Microbiologist with over 30 years of experience in the area of sterilization and is currently a Medical Liaison at Solventum in the Medical Surgical (MedSurg) Business. He has extensive experience as a Sterilization Engineer. In his career Larry has been responsible for the development, validation and control of ethylene oxide, steam, radiation, and vaporized hydrogen peroxide sterilization processes. Larry has experience as a Quality Assurance Engineer and is an American Society of Quality (ASQ) Certified Quality Engineer (CQE). Larry has presented on the national and global stage on matters pertaining the safe and effective use of low temperature sterilization in healthcare facilities, including ethylene oxide (EO) and vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VH2O2). Larry has also presented on the interpretation of national and international standards and guidelines in addition to topics pertaining to the theory, design, and use of biological and chemical indicators. Larry is currently the cochair of the U.S. Association of the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) working group 04 pertaining to biological indicators and working group 16 pertaining to VH2O2 sterilization processes. Larry is a voting member of several U.S. AAMI working groups and represents the U.S. on standards at the international level at International Organization of Standardization TC198 (ISO) for biological indicators and VH2O2 sterilization processes.

Event Timeslots (1)

Room 2
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Speaker: Larry Talapa Presented by Solventum
Victory 2