Bonita Shviraga, PhD, CNM

Bonita Shviraga is Adjunct Professor at the Midwifery & Women's Health Programs at Thomas Jefferson University. She obtained her nursing and nurse-midwifery education at the University of Illinois Medical Center Chicago and obtained her PhD in nursing from the University of Colorado Denver. Her ethnographic research investigated exclusive breastfeeding in recently immigrated Mexican primiparas. She has worked in high-risk inner city tertiary care centers, a hospital birth center, community clinics and hospitals, and community health. She practiced full scope midwifery for more than 30 years in various public and private settings serving persons from diverse backgrounds. As a faculty member she has taught in interdisciplinary educational settings with nursing, nurse-midwifery, nurse-practitioner, physician assistant, and medical and osteopathic students.  Within an interdisciplinary faculty model she taught obstetrical and family practice residents. Coursework she has taught includes Intrapartum, Postpartum/Family Planning, High Risk Obstetrics, Research, and Theoretical Foundations of Midwifery. She was lead midwife and then Practice Manager in the practice where she worked for 20 years. She has served on various hospital committees including quality, peer review, credentialing. She was also the Chair of the Magnet hospital Research Committee. Service work includes serving on the ACNM Certification Commission as Midwifery Certification Exam Chair, and as a member of the Board of Review of the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education. She currently serves as the Denver Regional Nightingale Association Co-Chair. Internationally she has done health volunteer work in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, and Fiji including teaching Helping Babies Breathe nationally and internationally. As a midwife, Bonita embraces partnering with patients in their care and supporting physiological birth. As a faculty member she enjoys partnering with students and supporting them to achieve their goals while enjoying the journey. In her free time Bonita enjoys reading, hiking, travel, and spending time with friends and family.

American Midwifery Certification Board: CNM
University of Denver, Certificate Modern Languages (Spanish)
AWHONN Intermediate Fetal Monitoring
AHA Basic Life Support
AHA Neonatal Resuscitation

• ACNM Fellowship Award 2019
• MCN Practice Paper of the Year 2014
• ACNM Chapter V-3 Research Grant 2011
• Western Institute of Nursing Research Best Student Poster
• Sigma Theta Tau Alpha Lambda Research Grant 2010
• Sigma Theta Tau Alpha Lambda Scholarship 2008
• Colorado State Nightingale Nursing Award Recipient 2001
• American College of Nurse-Midwives Scholarship 1987

Research: Critical Ethnographic Study of Exclusive Breastfeeding in Recently Immigrated Mexican Primiparas
Research: Cancer Patients Expectations & Perceptions of Care in the Emergency Room
Research: Evaluation of Follow-up of Early Postpartum Discharge Patients

• Shviraga B. & Hensley, J.G. (2018). Uncomplicated antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care. In T. Verklan, M. Walden, & S. Forest (Eds.), Core Curriculum for Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing (6th Edition, pp. 1-19). Elsevier Saunders.
• Shviraga, B. (2015). Uncomplicated antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care. In T. Verklan & M. Walden (Eds.), Core Curriculum for Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing (5th Edition, pp. 1-20). Elsevier Saunders.
• Shviraga, B. & Hensley, J. (2014). Metastatic choriocarcinoma in a term pregnancy. MCN The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, 29(1), 8-15. [MCN Practice Paper of the Year Award 2014]
• Shviraga, B. (2011). A critical ethnographic study of the cultural values, beliefs, and practices of recently immigrated Mexican primiparas regarding infant feeding with a focus on exclusive breastfeeding. (Publication No. 927601879) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado Denver]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
• Shviraga, B. & Landry, N. (2010). Uncomplicated antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care. In T. Verklan & M Walden (Eds.) Core Curriculum for Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing, (4th ed., pp. 1-19). Elsevier Saunders.
• Shviraga, B. (1987). An evaluation of postpartum follow-up phone calls to early discharge patients. [Master’s thesis, University of Illinois at Chicago.] University of Illinois at Chicago LHS Special Collections (Thesis SH96 1987). 

• Breastfeeding
• Transcultural nursing
• Midwifery
• Nurse-midwifery
• Maternal child health
• Theoretical foundations of health
• Evidence-based practice
• Qualitative research
• Ethnography
• Critical ethnography 
• Practice management