|**Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)**            | 3 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|**Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
|Basis of Presentation                                                               | Basis of PresentationWe prepared the condensed consolidated financial statements following the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for interim reporting. As permitted under those rules, certain footnotes or other financial information that are normally required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP) can be condensed or omitted.Balance sheet amounts and operating results for subsidiaries operating outside the U.S. are as of and for the three months ended February 22, 2015 and February 23, 2014.In the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2014, we performed certain reclassifications to conform to current period presentation, none of which were material to our financial statements.On February 5, 2015, we announced that we have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which we agreed to acquire Hospira, Inc. (Hospira), the world’s leading provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies and a global leader in biosimilars, for$90per share in cash, for a total enterprise value of approximately$17 billion. We expect to finance the transaction through a combination of existing cash and new debt, with approximately two-thirds of the value financed from cash and one-third from debt. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals in several jurisdictions and the approval of Hospira's shareholders, and is expected to close in the second half of 2015.Revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities can vary during each quarter of the year. Therefore, the results and trends in these interim financial statements may not be representative of those for the full year.We are responsible for the unaudited financial statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The financial statements include all normal and recurring adjustments that are considered necessary for the fair presentation of our condensed consolidated balance sheets and condensed consolidated statements of income.The information included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in our2014Annual Report on Form 10-K.Certain amounts in the condensed consolidated financial statements and associated notes may not add due to rounding. All percentages have been calculated using unrounded amounts.
|Adoption of New Accounting Standards                                                | Adoption of New Accounting StandardWe adopted a new accounting and disclosure standard as of January 1, 2015 that limits the presentation of discontinued operations to business circumstances when the disposal of the business operation represents a strategic shift that has had or will have a major effect on our operations and financial results. This new standard is applied prospectively to all disposals (or classifications as held for sale) of components of an entity that occur within annual periods beginning on or after December15, 2014, and interim periods within those years. We did not have any disposals within the scope of this new standard and, therefore, there were no impacts to our condensed consolidated financial statements.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
|Fair Value                                                                          | Fair ValueOur fair value methodologies depend on the following types of inputs:•Quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in active markets (Level 1 inputs).•Quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, or inputs other than quoted prices that are directly or indirectly observable, or inputs that are derived principally from, or corroborated by, observable market data by correlation or other means (Level 2 inputs).•Unobservable inputs that reflect estimates and assumptions (Level 3 inputs).A single estimate of fair value can result from a complex series of judgments about future events and uncertainties and can rely heavily on estimates and assumptions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
|                                                                                    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
|•                                                                                   | Quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in active markets (Level 1 inputs).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
|                                                                                    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
|•                                                                                   | Quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, or inputs other than quoted prices that are directly or indirectly observable, or inputs that are derived principally from, or corroborated by, observable market data by correlation or other means (Level 2 inputs).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
|                                                                                    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
|•                                                                                   | Unobservable inputs that reflect estimates and assumptions (Level 3 inputs).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

X- DefinitionDisclosure of accounting policy for basis of accounting, or basis of presentation, used to prepare the financial statements (for example, US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Other Comprehensive Basis of Accounting, IFRS).+ ReferencesNo definition available.+ Details**Name:**
                    us-gaap_BasisOfAccountingPolicyPolicyTextBlock**Namespace Prefix:**
                    us-gaap_**Data Type:**
                    nonnum:textBlockItemType**Balance Type:**
                    na**Period Type:**
                    duration X- DefinitionDisclosure of accounting policy for fair value measurements of financial and non-financial assets, liabilities and instruments classified in shareholders' equity. Disclosures include, but are not limited to, how an entity that manages a group of financial assets and liabilities on the basis of its net exposure measures the fair value of those assets and liabilities.+ ReferencesNo definition available.+ Details**Name:**
                    us-gaap_FairValueMeasurementPolicyPolicyTextBlock**Namespace Prefix:**
                    us-gaap_**Data Type:**
                    nonnum:textBlockItemType**Balance Type:**
                    na**Period Type:**
                    duration X- DefinitionDisclosure of accounting policy pertaining to new accounting pronouncements that may impact the entity's financial reporting. Includes, but is not limited to, quantification of the expected or actual impact.+ ReferencesNo definition available.+ Details**Name:**
                    us-gaap_NewAccountingPronouncementsPolicyPolicyTextBlock**Namespace Prefix:**
                    us-gaap_**Data Type:**
                    nonnum:textBlockItemType**Balance Type:**
                    na**Period Type:**
                    duration X- Details**Name:**
                    us-gaap_OrganizationConsolidationAndPresentationOfFinancialStatementsAbstract**Namespace Prefix:**
                    us-gaap_**Data Type:**
                    xbrli:stringItemType**Balance Type:**
                    na**Period Type:**
                    duration