37.3 Converting a State Transition Diagram to a Decision Tree

State transition diagrams provide a great visual representation of the patient flow. They do not hold any numerical inputs and some additional details (such as events which happen in the transitions) need to be added into Markov models. However, you can create a state transition diagram to conceptualize the Markov model and then convert it to the decision tree format.

To convert the diagram:

• Open and activate the state transition diagram editor window.

• Choose Edit > Convert to Markov tree from the menu.

• ...or...

• Right click in the white space of the STD and select Convert to Markov tree.

The resulting Markov model includes all the states from the state transition diagram. It also includes all the transitions emanating from each state and the arc labels become the node labels for the transitions.

Markov rewards and transition probabilities could then be added to the model. The transition subtrees may also be expanded to add events.

The Markov model can be incorporated into a larger decision tree via copy/paste subtree.