**Theme1:Work environment**

1. Would you mind explaining to me the pharmacy workflow and staff roles every time a new prescription arrives? How do you work as a team?

Educators only: What do you understand are areas where your students struggle with the most in the workplace? How do you feel these can be addressed?

2. On the first day, how are you provided information about your own role and those of other staff?

## **Opening Questions**

3. In your experience, what worked well to optimise your role in the pharmacy?

a. Probe: Any workplace practices, policies, training, physical design of pharmacy, i.e., designated workstations, workflow?

4. In your experience, what areas could be improved to better facilitate team work?

a. Probe: Any workplace practices, policies, training, physical design of pharmacy, i.e., designated workstations, workflow?

#### **Theme 2: Scope of practice**

1. How do you feel you/pharmacy technician makes a difference to the pharmacy?

2. What do you know about your scope/ the scope of practice of pharmacy technicians? Where did you learn about it?

Educators only: Do you feel the students have a complete understanding of your scope of practice as a pharmacy technician student? How do they learn this?

3. What do you feel differentiates a pharmacist from a regulated pharmacy technician?

4. What do you feel differentiates a pharmacy technician from a pharmacy assistant?

#### **Theme 3: Education**

1.

1. How effectively did your school curriculum prepare you for real world work and what specifically was in that curriculum?

2. What do you learn at school about workplace integration and delegating or communicating effectively as part of a team? What could be improved?

Educators only: What do students learn at college about workplace integration, delegating or communicating effectively as part of a team?

3. How would you like this information to be provided if at all and what would be the ideal package to help you successfully integrate?

**Theme 4: Professional Identity & Confidence in the workplace**


	- d. Interacting with Student Pharmacists
	- e. Interacting with registered Pharmacists
		- f. Answering phone calls from other health care practitioners

Educators only: In the workplace, how confident do your graduate pharmacy technicians feel interacting with their community pharmacy team and patients following the course? What has been successful and what may be improved?

2. If you were to speak with your pharmacy team, what would you like to tell them about how you would like to be worked with?

3. In the workplace, do you feel that pharmacy technicians are utilised to their full extent?

4. In your experience, do you feel that enough trust is placed on a pharmacy technician to carry out delegated roles?

## **Closing questions**

1. How do you feel about the future of your career?

2. How do you see your role changing in the next 5 years?

3. You may have alluded to this already, but finally what advice would you give to pharmacists and employers to optimise the role of the regulated pharmacy technician?

4. Any other thoughts or opinions?


**Table A3.** Demographic Profile of Research Participants (n = 24).
