This article examines the history and effect of the Consensus Development Program (CDP) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Introduced at a time when the relationship between the U.S. public and the medical profession was at a nadir, the CDP frequently placed the NIH in the middle of broader debates in medical practice and health policy during the last quarter of the 20th century. Drawing on published and archival sources, this paper sheds light on the challenges associated with collecting, assessing, and communicating evidence to medical professionals and convincing them to act on it in the name of improved health care. Administrators at the NIH sought a middle ground between changing medical practice and respecting professional autonomy, with varying degrees of success. This debate has continued implications today as tensions persist between scientific guidelines and the clinical medicine practiced by physicians and expected by patients.

本文研究了美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）共识开发计划（CDP）的历史和影响。CDP是在美国公众与医学界之间的关系处于最低点的时候提出的，在20世纪最后25年中，CNI经常将NIH置于医疗实践和健康政策辩论的中间。本文利用已公开和存档的资料，阐明了与收集，评估和向医学专业人员传达证据相关的挑战，并说服他们以改善医疗保健的名义采取行动。NIH的管理员寻求在改变医疗习惯和尊重专业自主权之间取得中间立场，并取得不同程度的成功。