Worldwide Countries outside of the United States and Canada.

Nurses' clinical expertise and patient experience provide valuable insight across all divisions of our company

Nurses do vital work every day. The care they provide makes a profound difference in the lives of patients and their families.

“Nurses are trained to serve as patients’ advocates in the health care setting,” said Jan Nissen, vice president, patient innovation & engagement within population health & sustainability.

From product safety and labeling to marketing, clinical operations and medical affairs, Merck employs hundreds of registered nurses in non-clinical positions.

“Nurses are a valuable resource to our company in terms of their real-world patient experience, clinical expertise and talent,” said Mary Elmer, executive director, patient innovation & engagement. “They bring important perspectives to our business.”

That’s why Nissen and Elmer, both nurses themselves, created the Merck Nurses Network, a voluntary group of nurses who work across functions and roles throughout the company. Its mission is to harness the collective knowledge of nurses to provide meaningful insight across the business, even beyond their day jobs. 

“The network is a great way for peers to connect and share experiences and learnings, always with a focus on patients,” said Elmer.

The nurses’ diverse backgrounds and skillsets – surgical, oncology, primary care, pediatrics, among others – also allow for valuable insight overall and targeted support when needed in a specific area of focus.

“We’ve been able to leverage our network to support other needs of the company – for example, by providing input in manufacturing or other decisions that impact patients,” said Nissen. “Our nurses have even provided critical support to our employee health department in special situations, such as helping to ensure business continuity during the current public health emergency.”

Here are four ways employees use their nursing expertise to make clinical and non-clinical impact:

Providing input on early design models for our product teams to create user-friendly devices as well as easy to understand accompanying patient education materials.

Supporting human factor testing, which focuses on the interactions between people and the product, by providing perspective on the the end-user experience of patients and the health care professionals who give our products to patients.

Providing personal and professional perspectives, including how patients and their families digest health information, cultural sensitivities, and other insights, so we deliver health literate information that is clear for the people who use our products.

Mobilizing teams of nurses to assist our employee health department, including stepping away from their non-clinical day jobs to provide critical support and help prevent disruption in business activities.

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This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA (the “company”) includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline candidates that the candidates will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of the recent global outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19); the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company’s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC’s Internet site (www.sec.gov). No Duty to Update The information contained in this website was current as of the date presented. The company assumes no duty to update the information to reflect subsequent developments. Consequently, the company will not update the information contained in the website and investors should not rely upon the information as current or accurate after the presentation date.

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