Do Healthcare Professionals Cross the Border to Serve Rural Population?

In the era of health for all, the performance of health care professionals is critical in determining the quality of health care services. Amidst the shortage of health workforce, these professionals carry out activities outside the job described ones. This paper attempts to group the activities carried by the medical officers and staff nurses working in Primary Health Centres (PHC) located in the state of Tamil Nadu. A survey is conducted among 149 respondents using questionnaires to understand job performance. The results of factor analysis indicate that the in- role activities and extra role activities group into five categories such as information sharing, maintenance of medical standards, medical service to patients, helping supervisors and co-workers and helping in functioning of PHC. The results highlight that the health care professionals working in the rural public health care sector stretch an extra mile in serving the patients. These professionals exhibit altruism towards supervisors, co-workers and patients and show organizational spontaneity by considering it as an integral part of their job routine.