A registered nurse, qualified by training and experience in operating room nursing, shall be present as a circulating nurse in any and each separate operating room where surgery is being performed for the duration of the operative procedure. Nothing in this section precludes a circulating nurse from leaving the operating room as part of the operative procedure, leaving the operating room for short periods; or, in accordance with employee rules or regulations, being relieved during an operative procedure by another circulating nurse assigned to continue the operative procedure.
New York Legal Code