Objective To identify similarities and differences in empathy, abilities toward inter-professional collaboration, and lifelong medical learning, between Spanish and Latin-American physicians-in-training who start their posgraduate training in teaching hospitals in Spain. Design Observational study using self-administered questionnaires. Settings Five teaching hospitals in the province of Barcelona, Spain. Participants Spanish and Latin-American physicians-in-training who started their first year of post-graduate medical training. Main measurements Empathy was measured using the Jefferson scale of empathy. Abilities for inter-professional collaboration were measured using the Jefferson scale attitudes towards nurse-physician collaboration. Learning was measured using the Jefferson scale of medical lifelong learning scale. Results From a sample of 156 physicians-in-training, 110 from Spain and 40 from Latin America, the Spanish group showed the highest empathy (p<.05). On the other hand, Latin-American physicians had the highest scores in lifelong learning abilities (p<.001). A positive relationship was found between empathy and inter-professional collaboration for the whole sample (r = +0.34; p<.05). Conclusions These results confirm previous preliminary data and underline the positive influence of empathy in the development of inter-professional collaboration abilities. In Latin-American physicians who start posgraduate training programs, lifelong learning abilities have a positive influence on the development of other professional competencies.