Abstract: Healthcare professionals may face emotions which are hard to deal with. It's important to improve emotional skills in order to develop an appropriate control when it comes to professional situations. Professional variables interfere with the emotional competence of healthcare professionals; What are the predictor variables of emotional competence in healthcare professionals? was our research focus. We aimed to assess the Emotional Competence in healthcare professionals; To check if the professional variables are related to the Emotional Competence of healthcare professionals with and without experience in Palliative Care; To identify predictor variables of emotional competence in healthcare professionals. Cross-sectional descriptive-correlational quantitative research with a universe of 116 health professionals: 40 with experience in palliative care and 76 without experience. For the measurement of the variables it was used a socio-demographic and professional classification form and the Emotional Competence Questionnaire of Taksic (ECQ) (2000) validated by Lima Santos and Faria (2005) for the Portuguese Population had been applied. Healthcare professionals with high emotional skills are the oldest (≥35 years old), female, with a university degree and with no experience in palliative care ones. Career and the type of relationships at workplace influence the emotional competence of professionals with experience; the type of unit influences healthcare professionals with experience in palliative care. Professional variables (profession, type of relationships at work context and unit type) influence the emotional competence skills of healthcare professionals with and without experience in Palliative Care. Caregiving in the final stages of life brings a diversity of experience to the healthcare professional and it requires training in emotional and intellectual areas to ensure the promotion of stability and emotional comfort.