The role of pharmacists in the healthcare settings is expanding and pharmacists are expected to counsel patients and/or caregivers regarding the appropriate use of a drug. However, we believe that communication between healthcare providers and patients may be limited by overestimation of patients’ recognition level of medical terms by providers. The purpose of this study was to clarify patients’ recognition level of medical terms, mainly related to drugs, as estimated by pharmacists to contribute to improving risk communication in the medical care field.

A total of 211 medical doctors and 212 pharmacists were surveyed. Differences between patients’ recognition level of medical terms as estimated by medical doctors and pharmacists were assessed. In total, 90 medical terms were evaluated, including 57 medical terms from the National Institute for Japanese Language and an additional 33 medical terms.

Patient’s recognition level of the selected medical terms as estimated by pharmacists was higher than that estimated by medical doctors.

Compared with medical doctors, pharmacists tend to overestimate patients’ recognition level of medical terms. Therefore, pharmacists need to take greater care to ensure that their patients fully understand the risks and benefits of the drugs.