1. A system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more storage media storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the system to perform operations comprising: presenting a document in a documentation display area of a user interface; presenting a list of external components in a macro display area of the user interface that is adjacent to the documentation display area, wherein an individual external component is configured to access a particular type of external medical data of a plurality of different types of external medical data accessible via the list of external components; determining a patient identifier associated with the document; receiving input, within the macro display area, that selects an external component from the list of external components, wherein selection of the external component initiates a macro that provides instructions to launch the selected external component; launching, based at least in part on the macro, the selected external component in a launched external component display area of the user interface, the launched external component display area being presented contemporaneously with the documentation display area and the macro display area; providing, to the launched external component, component-specific context data associated with the document thereby enabling the launched external component to access, via at least one remote storage location, external medical data of a particular type for a patient identified by the patient identifier; displaying the accessed external medical data within the launched external component display area; processing user interactions associated with the accessed external medical data displayed within the launched external component display area, the user interactions modifying the accessed external medical data to produce modified external medical data; capturing a message sent from the launched external component to the at least one remote storage location, the message including at least a portion of the modified external medical data; and automatically rendering a portion of the document presented in the documentation display area based at least in part on the portion of the modified external medical data included in the captured message.
4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the launched external component display area comprises a pop-up window within the user interface that enables the portion of the modified external medical data to be automatically rendered within the portion of the document.