[Managing the quality of attention in public hospitals' clinical laboratories in Maracaibo, Venezuela].

Objective: Evaluating how clinical laboratories' quality was being managed according to the view of external users, thereby determining the dimensions of quality related to their satisfaction and sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: The study was descriptive; the sample consisted of 1,875 outpatients attending the laboratories of type 3 and 4 care level public hospitals located in the metropolitan area of Zulia State in Venezuela between October and December 2008. A previously validated survey was applied.

[High prevalence of hepatitis B infection in Amerindians in Japreira, Zulia State, Venezuela].

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the Japreira indigenous community, Venezuela, and its relationship to age and gender. An intentional, non-probabilistic sample of 149 individuals was selected from a total of 300. All samples were studied for the presence of total HBV antibodies (total anti-HBc), and the positive samples were tested for HBV surface and "e" antigens (HBsAg, HBeAg).