Introduction:

The interpersonal relationship is one of the pillars of nursing practice. These relationships are based on the empathic understanding and acceptance of patients. Developing specific skills is a fundamental aspect to effective therapeutic relationships. Nevertheless, the Chilean nursing undergraduate programs lack this component.

Aim:

to analyze barriers to teach and learn interpersonal relationship skills from lecturers and students’ viewpoints.

Method:

A qualitative study based on content analysis was conducted, by using semi-structured interviews with lecturers and focus group with students of one Chilean school of nursing.

Results:

Fifteen lecturers and eight students took part. For the lecturers, the main barriers to teach interpersonal relationship skills are their scarce training on this topic and the lack of content in the undergraduate program. For the students, barriers to learn these skills include the underestimation of these by their lecturers and few opportunities to practice the skills.

Conclusions:

Further research is need explore the characteristics of educational interventions to train these skills, considering lecturers’ training and inclusion of the contents in the curricular program.