Consolidated Statements Of Earnings (USD $) In Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Income Statement [Abstract]
Net sales	$ 2,379us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet	$ 2,305us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet
Cost of sales	826us-gaap_CostOfGoodsSold	776us-gaap_CostOfGoodsSold
Gross profit	1,553us-gaap_GrossProfit	1,529us-gaap_GrossProfit
Research, development and engineering expenses	152us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense	150us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense
Selling, general and administrative expenses	892	859
Recall charges	54syk_Recallchargesnetofinsuranceproceeds	344syk_Recallchargesnetofinsuranceproceeds
Intangible asset amortization	49us-gaap_AmortizationOfIntangibleAssets	45us-gaap_AmortizationOfIntangibleAssets
Total operating expenses	1,147us-gaap_OperatingExpenses	1,398us-gaap_OperatingExpenses
Operating income	406us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss	131us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss
Other income (expense), net	(29)us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense	(24)us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense
Earnings before income taxes	377	107
Income taxes	153us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	37us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Net earnings	$ 224us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss	$ 70us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss
Net earnings per share of common stock:
Basic net earnings per share of common stock	$ 0.59us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic	$ 0.19us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic
Diluted net earnings per share of common stock	$ 0.58us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted	$ 0.18us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted
Weighted-average shares outstanding - in millions:
Basic	378.9	378.2
Net effect of dilutive employee stock options	4.6	4.4
Diluted	383.5	382.6
Anti-dilutive shares excluded from the calculation of net effect of dilutive employee stock options	0	2.5

Recall charges, net of insurance proceeds

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Amount of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

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The aggregate costs incurred (1) in a planned search or critical investigation aimed at discovery of new knowledge with the hope that such knowledge will be useful in developing a new product or service, a new process or technique, or in bringing about a significant improvement to an existing product or process; or (2) to translate research findings or other knowledge into a plan or design for a new product or process or for a significant improvement to an existing product or process whether intended for sale or the entity's use, during the reporting period charged to research and development projects, including the costs of developing computer software up to the point in time of achieving technological feasibility, and costs allocated in accounting for a business combination to in-process projects deemed to have no alternative future use.

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