Purpose: This study aims to explore students' perceptions of a virtual reality simulation that enable nursing students to learn how to use a medical emergency crash cart. Design/methodology/approach: The study was designed to explore how students' perceptions of ease of use and perceived usefulness from the technology acceptance model and the students' personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology explained their intentions to use the simulation. Six hypotheses were tested with a survey administered to 158 undergraduate nursing students at a midsized Southwestern university in the USA. Findings: Data analysis based upon a structural equation modeling technique found support for all three research hypotheses based upon the technology acceptance model. Data analysis also found support for all three hypotheses drawn from the literature on personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology. Overall, the study's research model explained about 65 percent of the variance in intention to use the virtual reality simulation (R[superscript 2] = 0.65). Research limitations/implications: This study suggests that future research should take into account the impact of an individual characteristic, personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology, in order to better predict users' intention to adopt an information technology innovation. Originality/value: This study extends the knowledge of technology acceptance of a virtual reality simulation by incorporating the concept of personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology into the technology acceptance model. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)