Last year 2 children recovering from acute severe pancreatitis were transferred from the intensive care unit (ICU) to our care in the paediatric ward.

Patient 1 was a 9-year old girl diagnosed with acute severe pancreatitis (Imrie score  =  5, computed tomography [CT] abdomen staging  =  Balthazar E which included pancreatic necrosis).1-2 She received antibiotics (ceftriaxone, metronidazole), analgesics (pethidine, fentanyl), anti-acid therapy (ranitidine), and nasojejunal feeding. She had been in hospital for 25 days (16 in ICU), and had received nasojejunal tube feeding for 20 days.

Patient 2 was a 9-year old boy again with acute severe pancreatitis (Imrie score  =  4, CT abdomen staging  =  Balthazar E). In the Emergencias Pediátricas Hospital he was admitted to the ICU, where he received antibiotic therapy (ciprofloxacin, metronidazole), analgesics (pethidine), anti-acid therapy (ranitidine), and nasojejunal feeding. He had been in hospital for 9 days (7 days in ICU) and had been feeding by nasojejunal tube for 4 days. He asked during the ward round “When are you giving me something to eat?”

The ICU discharge plan for both patients was to complete 6 weeks of nasojejunal tube feeding (4 wks minimum), and the commencement of …