Business Acquisitions and Divestitures - Narrative (Details) ¥ / shares in Units, $ / shares in Units, ¥ in Billions						3 Months Ended					4 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Apr. 01, 2019 USD ($)	Jan. 17, 2019 USD ($)	Jan. 17, 2019 JPY (¥) ¥ / shares	Jun. 16, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares	Dec. 29, 2019 USD ($)	Sep. 29, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Jul. 01, 2018 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 29, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Jan. 16, 2019	Oct. 22, 2018
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity						$ 10,000,000,000						$ 10,000,000,000
Goodwill						33,639,000,000						33,639,000,000	$ 30,453,000,000	$ 31,906,000,000
Current liabilities						1,400,000,000						1,400,000,000
Acquisition payments												5,810,000,000	899,000,000	35,151,000,000
Other Nonoperating Income (Expense)												(2,525,000,000)	(1,405,000,000)	42,000,000
Acquisition related costs						90,000,000	$ 107,000,000	$ 55,000,000	$ 67,000,000
Liabilities assumed												1,418,000,000	148,000,000	1,786,000,000
Contingent consideration						1,715,000,000						1,715,000,000	397,000,000
Indefinite lived intangible assets						11,569,000,000						11,569,000,000	9,190,000,000
Purchase price												5,810,000,000	899,000,000	35,151,000,000
Asset write-downs												1,096,000,000	1,258,000,000	795,000,000
Gain on divestitures, pre-tax													1,200,000,000	1,300,000,000
Auris Health
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill		$ 2,000,000,000.0
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Current Assets, Marketable Securities		200,000,000
Current liabilities		1,800,000,000
Business Combination, Contingent Consideration, Liability, Noncurrent		$ 1,100,000,000
Business Acquisition, Discount Rate		10.00%
Acquisition payments		$ 3,400,000,000
Contingent consideration		2,350,000,000
Intangible assets		$ 3,000,000,000.0
XBiotech
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition payments	$ 800,000,000
Ci:z Holdings Co. Ltd.
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill						1,200,000,000						1,200,000,000
Current liabilities						400,000,000						400,000,000
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Adjustments Made To Intangible Assets, Other than Goodwill						100,000,000						$ 100,000,000
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired																	20.00%
Other Nonoperating Income (Expense)									$ 300,000,000
Acquisition price (in dollars per share) | ¥ / shares				¥ 5,900
Business Combination, Consideration Transferred			$ 2,100,000,000	¥ 230
Acquired Finite-lived Intangible Assets, Weighted Average Useful Life												15 years 3 months 18 days
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate, Translation																109.06
Intangible assets						$ 1,500,000,000						$ 1,500,000,000
2017 Acquisitions
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price over fair value of assets acquired														34,400,000,000
Actelion
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Combination, Provisional Information, Initial Accounting Incomplete, Adjustment, Inventory					$ 642,000,000
Goodwill, Subsequent Recognition of Deferred Tax Asset											$ 200,000,000
Business Combination, Initial Accounting Incomplete, Adjustment, Current Liabilities											$ 400,000,000
Goodwill										$ 6,161,000,000			6,200,000,000
Current liabilities										956,000,000
Acquisition payments														29,600,000,000
Acquisition price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares					$ 280
Acquired Finite-lived Intangible Assets, Weighted Average Useful Life					9 years
Business Combination, Pro Forma Information, Revenue of Acquiree since Acquisition Date, Actual														1,400,000,000
Business Combination, Pro Forma Information, Earnings or Loss of Acquiree since Acquisition Date, Actual														(1,400,000,000)
Acquisition related costs												$ 200,000,000	200,000,000	$ 800,000,000
Intangible assets										25,010,000,000
Idorsia
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired					9.90%	9.00%						9.00%
Convertible Note, Equity Interest, Percentage					22.10%							20.80%
AMO
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired Finite-lived Intangible Assets, Weighted Average Useful Life														14 years 4 months 24 days
Synthes, Inc
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price															$ 20,200,000,000
Purchased in-process research and development
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Indefinite lived intangible assets						$ 4,647,000,000						$ 4,647,000,000	2,253,000,000
Medical Devices
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill						14,734,000,000						14,734,000,000	12,720,000,000	$ 13,922,000,000
Asset write-downs														200,000,000
Medical Devices | AMO
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill														1,700,000,000
Acquisition payments														4,300,000,000
Finite-lived Intangible Assets Acquired														2,300,000,000
Acquisition related costs													100,000,000	100,000,000
Consumer
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill						9,736,000,000						9,736,000,000	8,670,000,000	8,875,000,000
Maximum | Auris Health
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Combination, Probability Of Success Factor		95.00%
Maximum | Actelion
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset, Useful Life					10 years
Minimum | Auris Health
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Combination, Probability Of Success Factor		55.00%
Minimum | Actelion
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset, Useful Life					4 years
Intellectual Property | Actelion
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived Intangible Assets Acquired					$ 24,230,000,000
Intellectual Property | Valchlor
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Finite-lived Intangible Assets Acquired										$ 400,000,000
In Process Research and Development | 2019 Acquisitions
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price over fair value of assets acquired						6,800,000,000						6,800,000,000
In Process Research and Development | 2018 Acquisitions
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price over fair value of assets acquired													1,000,000,000.0
In Process Research and Development | 2017 Acquisitions
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price over fair value of assets acquired														$ 1,100,000,000
Line of Credit | Idorsia
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity					250,000,000
Convertible Debt | Idorsia
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Long-term Debt					$ 500,000,000	500,000,000						$ 500,000,000
Debt Instrument, Term					10 years
Debt Instrument, Redemption, Period One | Convertible Debt | Idorsia
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Restrictive Covenants, Shareholder Ownership Threshold, Percent					20.00%
Convertible Note, Equity Interest, Percentage					16.00%
R&D Expense
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Concentration risk (as a percent)												5.00%
AdvancedSterilizationProducts
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Gain (Loss) on Disposition of Business												$ 2,000,000,000.0
Discontinued Operations, Held-for-sale or Disposed of by Sale | LifeScan
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Consideration													2,100,000,000
Discontinued Operations, Held-for-sale or Disposed of by Sale | AdvancedSterilizationProducts
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Consideration						2,800,000,000						2,800,000,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Cash						2,700,000,000						2,700,000,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Property, Plant and Equipment													100,000,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Goodwill													300,000,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Receivables Retained						100,000,000						100,000,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Inventory, Current													200,000,000
Discontinued Operations, Held-for-sale or Disposed of by Sale | Supply Chain
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Property, Plant and Equipment													100,000,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Inventory, Current						$ 100,000,000						$ 100,000,000	$ 300,000,000
Discount Rate | In Process Research and Development | Actelion
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Fair Value Inputs, Discount Rate (Deprecated 2018-01-31)					0.09