I need advice. I'm done with this unit as a new grad.

Only you can tell if you really were not getting the big picture or progressing as expected, or if the staff were just beyotches. Sometimes, units are just toxic. Nothing you can do to change it, and it's not worth trying.

If ICU is your passion and you think you're good at it, stick with it and find another unit that is actually prepared to mentor and precept you for sufficient time. Find out specifics as to what support they provide and who provides it. I started in ICU as a new grad and it was a huge learning curve, but I loved it and never left - I had a great unit to start on, and excellent preceptors.

On the other hand, some people just struggle and need to move to a less acute area to get their time management and critical thinking skills down before attempting critical care.

Only you can know which situation fits you. Good luck - we need more great critical care nurses!

My unit has nurses like those you describe. The difference is that they are vastly outnumbered by the awesome nurses who love to teach and be supportive. Without them, I never would have lasted in my unit. Now, I have nurses who were so essential to my success suggesting to my manager that I precept new hires, which just blows me away.

This is an ICU unit (NICU); I have heard of similar positive units on the adult side, too. These healthy units exist, and I wish you the best of luck in finding them.

Let me start by saying I'm saddened to hear about your difficulties especially so early on in your career, but please don't give up on it so quickly. I'm sure you'll find a place in this field, NICU may still be for you. Nursing may not be for everyone, but just about anyone can do it. Fact of the matter is your apparent failure on this unit was not yours alone. It has to be shared with the unit as a whole and your preceptor. You probably would have had considerably more success with a better structured orientation. That's not to take all of the responsibility off your shoulders though. Probably the best advice I received for this kind of situation was from a former professor of mine in nursing school. He said you should periodically request feedback regarding your performance. With bench marks in place for you to be at a certain performance level within a certain time frame, it is critical for you to know exactly what that performance level is, what level you're at and what has to be done to make adequate progress. If you don't ask for feed back or if you don't receive the right kind of feed back, achieving this goal will be like searching for a needle in a hay stack. Regardless of what unit you land on, this is a key factor to success. Beware of the sharks; they're out there & their diet goes well beyond the young. The best way I've found to deal with them is to learn your role, know your role and always fulfill your role in a professional manner on the unit. Good luck!